Tabriz opens for Rumi

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Monday, July 30

The University of Tabriz is to hold a two-day international congress to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. It will take place on October 31 and November 1.

Iranian and foreign researchers and experts on Rumi are scheduled to participate in the event, the secretary of the congress told the Persian service of IRNA on Monday.

Khalil Hadidi stated that scholars from countries including France, Germany, India, China, Malaysia, Turkey, the United States, and Canada, will be attending the congress. Discussions and reviews will be held focusing on the life and characteristics of Rumi, his mysticism, philosophy, language and literature and his followers and opponents.

“Those who are interested in attending the event should send synopses of their discourses to the secretariat of the congress at the Persian and Foreign Language Department of the University of Tabriz before September 6,” Hadidi added.

The congress is cosponsored by the Society for Wisdom and Philosophy and the University of Tabriz.

UNESCO has designated 2007 "The Year of Rumi" to mark the 800th birth anniversary of this illustrious philosopher and mystical poet.

[picture: Autmn in Tabriz' University http://www2.tabrizu.ac.ir/show.asp?id=65]

From East to West: a dance for peace

[From the Italian language press]:

E' iniziata il 28 luglio e proseguirà fino al 5 agosto la quinta edizione della manifestazione "Da Oriente a Occidente: una danza per la pace" organizzata dall'Associazione Culturale Maeva e dal Centro Asani di Porto d'Ascoli.

Sambenedetto Oggi, Italy - mercoledì 25 luglio 2007 - di Cinzia Rosati

The fifth edition of the manifestation “From East to West: a dance for peace" began on July the 28th and will continue til August the 5th; it is organized by the Cultural Association Maeva and the Center Asani of Porto d'Ascoli (Ancona).

Workshops of dance will be held, during the days of the event, by the two Egyptian dance' masters Ashraf Hassan and Wael Mansour, introducing to various styles of Oriental dances, like Saaidi, Andalusian and Tannoura (the dance of the Egyptian sufis).

Ms. Najma Asani, founder of the Asani Center of Porto d'Ascoli, says that the culture of Oriental dance holds a place in its own right among the performing arts in most European countries, but it is still widely misunderstood in Italy.

[picture: U.S. Ambassador in Cairo, Mr Francis J. Ricciardone, attended evening moulid festivities on November 16 in Tanta. The famous moulid of Al-Sayyad Al-Badawi is attended by millions annually. Pictured here, the Ambassador listens to Sheikh Hassan Al-Shanawi, the Head of Egypt's Sufi order. Also pictured (left to right) are: Dr. Mahmoud Abuzaid, Minister of Irrigation; Sheikh Al-Shanawi; Dr. Ali Saman, Head of Al-Azhar's Committee on Interfaith Dialogue; and Gharbiya Governor Al-Dakrouri; cairo.usembassy.gov/ambassador/tr111605.htm]

Ibn Khaldoun

[from the French language press]:

La revue scientifique de l'université [tunisienne] Ezzitouna, Al-Mishkat, a récemment publié son 4e numéro, consacré à Ibn Khaldoun.

On y trouve des articles, essentiellement en langue arabe, mais aussi quelques-uns en langue française.

Il s'agit d'un numéro spécial, consacré au sixième centenaire de la mort [Cairo, 1406 CE] du grand savant du XIVe siècle.

All Africa/La Presse - Tunis, Tunisia - vendredi 27 juillet, 2007 - par R. S.

The scientific review of the [Tunisian] Ezzitouna university, Al-Mishkat, published recently its 4th number, devoted to Ibn Khaldoun.

One finds there articles, primarily in the Arab language, but also some in the French language.

It is a special number, devoted to the sixth centenary of the death of the great scientist of the 14th century.

The review of Ezzitouna approaches primarily the theoretical part of the work of Ibn Khaldoun, i.e. Muqaddima, and this, under the angle of its bond with the great questions of theology and jurisprudence.

The Arabic language' part, which is some 420 pages long , presents 17 articles which cover aspects as varied as the Khaldounian approach of the bases of jurisprudence and Maliki school; the scientist's approach to the Arab language; his views of the relation between religion and assabiyya [group' consciousness]; and Ibn Khaldoun on Sufism.

[About Ibn Khaldoun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun
http://www.eicds.org/
http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/KHALDUN.htm]

[About 'assabiyya: http://proteus.brown.edu/arabiaandarabs/1821]

[picture: statue of Ibn Khaldoun in Tunis, Tunisia, avenue Habib Bourguiba;
source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldoun]

"Sufism has always been more feminine"

By Boyd Tonkin - The Independent - London, U.K.

Friday, July 27, 2007

A writer who weds the modern and the mystic, Elif Shafak was born in France to a Turkish diplomatic family in 1971, and as a child lived in Spain, Jordan and Germany before studying in Ankara.

She has taught Ottoman history and culture at Istanbul Bilgi University and, from 2002, at American universities in Boston, Michigan and Tucson, Arizona.

A prolific columnist and fiction writer, she has published six novels: The Flea Palace (shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Gaze are available in the UK from Marion Boyars. Her novel The Bastard of Istanbul provoked a court case in 2006 that led to her acquittal on a charge of "insulting Turkishness".

Shafak, whose daughter Shehrazad Zelda was born at the time of her trial, now lives in Istanbul.

After years of interviewing ego-driven writers, one truth looms larger all the time for me. Authors who have precious little to say or to fear always make the biggest fuss about their precious work and their sacred little selves.

Then there is the modest minority in whom talent, courage and self-knowledge converge; who fight high-stakes battles against dangerous enemies, but never succumb to vanity, bitterness or dogmatism.

Quietly eloquent at breakfast-time in her Bloomsbury hotel, the Turkish novelist, journalist and academic Elif Shafak explains how the Sufi strand of Islam that she loves helps to ground her in internal as well as external realities.

"It's an endless chain," she explains. "I'm both observing the outside world, and observing myself. And this is something that perhaps I derive from Sufism. Because I think the human being is a microcosm: all the conflicts present outside are also present inside him."

Compared to the trivial spats that occupy so many writers in the West, Shafak has had to endure enough external conflict over the past year to extinguish many lesser lights. In September 2006, she joined the scores of Turkish authors and intellectuals (notably, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) who have faced trial for the crime of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the republic's penal code.

Inevitably, the charges – pushed through by a cabal of hard-line nationalist lawyers – stemmed from a fictional discussion of the mass deportations and deaths of Armenians in 1915, as the Ottoman empire crumbled, at one point in her new novel The Bastard of Istanbul (published by Viking, £16.99).

The hearing took place just as her first child, a daughter named Shehrazad Zelda, was born. Shafak was rapidly acquitted; a verdict welcomed at the time by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (re-elected last Sunday).

In court in Istanbul, she faced a Satanic Verses-style charade, with the words of one (Armenian) character in a novel of cultural and emotional polyphony plucked from their context and treated as a manifesto. With one, crucial difference from Salman Rushdie's plight: the judicial harassment of authors in Turkey comes not from Islamist forces but secular chauvinists.

Although she has had to walk through fire, Shafak carries herself with an uncanny air of calm ("cool" would be misleading; she has warmth as well as poise).

Much of her mischievous fiction plays with the treachery of appearances, the mutability of identities. What you see is, consistently, not what you get. Take the headscarf, now worn by around 60 per cent of Turkish women. Shafak explores its multiple meanings, with only some of them linked in any way to political Islam.

The Bastard of Istanbul, with the matriarchal clan of the Kazancis at his heart, dramatises the kind of Turkish family where "Sometimes the mother's covered and the daughter isn't; one elder sister is a leftist; another is very superstitious. We are very much mixed, and I think there's nothing bad about it."

As she puts it, "Islam is not a monolith. It's not a static thing at all. And neither is the issue of the headscarf."

Shafak herself could baffle stereotypes as gleefully as her characters often do. Born in Strasbourg, to a family of diplomats, she had a father who left home early on and a feminist mother (a foreign-ministry official in her own right) who brought her up in Spain, Jordan and Germany. She has taught in three American states and travelled all over the world. The author of six exuberantly digressive novels packed to bursting with jokes, tales and ideas ("carnivalesque", she calls them), she first wrote The Bastard of Istanbul and its predecessor not in Turkish but in English.

"If it's sadness I'm dealing with," she says, "I prefer Turkish; for humour, I prefer English."

Now here she sits in a Bloomsbury hotel lounge, peppering her conversation with references to Johnny Cash or Walter Benjamin. An archetype of the secular, Westernised Turkish woman? Not at all: her involvement with the path of Sufism began as an intellectual quest, but deepened.

"Only years later did I realise that perhaps this was more than intellectual curiosity, that it was also an emotional bond. Sufism has always been more open to women, and it's always been more feminine."

(...)

For Shafak, art must struggle to safeguard its space of free enquiry from the dead hand of doctrine: "Because the world we live in is so polarised and politicised, many people are not willing to understand that art and literature has an autonomous zone of existence... I'm not saying there is no dialectic between art and politics – there is, indeed – but art cannot be under the shadow of politics."

"Art has the capacity constantly to deconstruct its own truths... That's again why I think there's a link between Sufism and literature. For me, both of them are about transcending the self, the boundaries given by birth."

"I think it's perfectly OK to be multi-lingual, multi-cultural, even multi-faith," she adds when we talk of her current fascination with the "labyrinth" of the English language. "In a world that's always asking us to make a choice once and for all, we should say, 'No: I'm not going to make that choice. I'm going to stay plural'."

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a field"

By Ted Merwin - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

When the Pakistani scholar Akbar Ahmed arrived at American University in August 2001 as the new Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic Studies, he thought he knew what work lay ahead: Teach classes, write books and share his deep knowledge of Islamic religion and culture.

A month later, as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were in ashes and flames, Ahmed quickly realized he had an urgent and timely mission: bridge the yawning chasm between the West and the Muslim world.

Ahmed, 64, whom the BBC has dubbed "probably the world's best-known scholar on contemporary Islam," tirelessly promotes interfaith relations through his scholarship (he has 30 books to his credit); his television appearances on CNN, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Nightline" and elsewhere; and his public dialogues with Judea Pearl, father of slain Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl.

Now Ahmed has found a new forum in which to communicate his message. His first theatrical drama, "Noor," will receive its world premiere in a staged reading tonight [July 26th] at 6 as part of Theater J's "Voices From a Changing Middle East" series, part of this summer's Capital Fringe Festival.

Speaking by phone, Ahmed predicted that his play would help "shatter the idea of Islam as a monolith."

"Noor," directed by Shirley Serotsky, is the tale of three brothers who try desperately to rescue their sister Noor, who has been kidnapped by unidentified soldiers during Ramadan. (Noor means light in Arabic and is one of Islam's 99 names for God.)

The play's setting is unnamed; in an introductory note, the playwright says it could be Baghdad, Cairo, Karachi or Kabul.

Each brother represents a different ideological position in the contemporary Islamic world. The eldest, Abdullah, is a Sufi mystic whose sheik counsels him to rely on prayer. The second brother, Ali, is a lawyer who appeals for help from a government minister who turns out to be corrupt. The third, Daoud, sees no recourse except violence.

The catastrophe deepens when the mother of Noor's fiance breaks off the engagement, refusing to allow her son to marry a girl who almost certainly has been raped. The play concludes with the return of Noor (played by Ahmed's daughter, Nefees Ahmed, a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda).

Noor reads a poem from Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet, about two lovers meeting in a field "out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing."

The play's message is one of religious tolerance, placing it squarely in the tradition of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 18th-century drama "Nathan the Wise," in which three major religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- are shown to have deeper commonalities than differences.

But in "Noor," the brothers exemplify the three principal methods adopted by Muslims to cope with the crisis of modern Islam -- a crisis that scholars date to the rise of industrialization in the 19th century and the concomitant spread of Western ideas about equality, democracy and women's rights.

Ahmed says his goal is to enlighten Americans about the diversity of positions within the Muslim world -- which is the overriding theme of his recently published book "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

He says that what the West views as violence motivated by religious extremism is actually often motivated by mainstream Muslims' attempts to defend their honor and dignity. He also is highly critical of the American media for propagating images of Muslims as mindless and bloodthirsty.

Ahmed avers that these inflammatory media images, along with the American military presence in the Middle East, "create the perception that Islam is under attack. This makes ordinary Muslims look to those who can stand up and fight back."

So it is religion, he says, that is often used to fan the flames of hatred. Updating Karl Marx's phrase, Ahmed is fond of saying: "Religion is no longer the opiate of the masses. It is the speed of the masses."

What deepens the divide, Ahmed says, is the brain drain of Muslim scholars from the Arab world, many of whom have been killed or have fled to the West. "The scholarly vacuum," he lamented, "leaves thugs and tyrants."

Yet his play reflects how learning is revered in Muslim cultures. "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," exclaims one of the characters in "Noor," quoting the Koran.

(...)

Staging "Noor" in a Jewish theater is itself highly symbolic -- a step toward opening up a crucial dialogue.

"You can't dramatize the Arab-Israeli conflict without dramatizing the Arab experience," Mr Ari Roth [artistic director of Theater J]says. "We need to listen to each other and hear each other's stories."

[picture: Mr Akbar Ahmed. Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post]

We all try to contribute

By Shokufeh Kavani - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Friday, July 27, 2007

This is the year of Mevlana and we all try to contribute our share to Mevlana Rumi, one of our greatest poets and Sufi's who became a worldwide phenamenon and lives ever happily after in people's heart all over the world.

I would like to introduce to you the book that I translated from English into Persian about Mevlana Rumi, written by Ira Friedlander by the name of 'Whirling Dervishes ' which has been published in Iran, year 2003 and has sold out.

The first time I saw the English version of the book, I was amazed by the beauty of the photos that Mrs. Ira Friedlaner, now the head of the apple graphic centre at American Cairo University, and Mr. Nazieh Oozal have taken from the Konya, Mevlana tomb and the Whirling Dervishes ceremony.

It is beautifully captured in black and white and takes the readers inside the world of these holy men. This book also narrates the last 200 years of the Mevlavieh sect and what has happened to them and their centres in Turkey and during the power of Kamal Attatork from a very good historical angle.

The book can not be found in Iran due to high demand, but the English version is available:

Ira Friedlander

The Whirling Dervishes, , Being an Account of the Sufi Order Known As the Mevlevis and Its Founder the Poet and Mystic Mevlana Jalalu'Ddin Rumi

Macmillan Publishing Company (January 1975)
ISBN-10: 002065300X

ISBN-13: 978-0020653004

Shokufeh Kavani moved to Australia in 1997 and is currently living in Sydney. She works as an operating theatre nurse but considers art her true passion. She has been nominated for the "Australian of the Year Award 2005 & 2007 " and "The Pride of the Australian Medal" by the Daily Telegraph magazine.

Ideology of intolerance: a crisis of ignorance

By Sadia Dehlvi - Hindustan Times - India Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Yes, the Muslim world is facing oppression and injustice, but we can no longer escape the fact that we have enemies within the community.

The Glasgow attack and the Lal Masjid horror are recent examples of extremism and terror. Clearly there is a crisis of ignorance, leadership and faith.

Muslims must acknowledge that there is a radical fringe which needs to be identified and rejected. We cannot allow the pulpits of our mosques or the institutions of learning to be seized for the discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. It has become imperative to understand the root of militancy, which is transforming the glorious tradition of spiritual quest and scholarship in Islam to one of terror.

Prophet Mohammad said, “Beware of extremism in your religion”. This ideology of extremism stems from religious outfits like Tablighi Jamaat whose recruits are operating world over. Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Deobandi cleric Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalawi in 1920. The Jamaat-e-Islami, Ahle Hadis and Salafis share similar views.

Islam in the subcontinent is the legacy of the Sufis. Wahabism is an import from Saudia Arabia, which seeks inspiration from Ibn Wahab who died in 1786 AD. Unfortunately its followers are unaware of the political and religious activities of its founder and have become victims of the mission rhetoric: “purify and spread Islam”, which allows emotion to rule over knowledge.

The Wahabis reject the historical Islamic belief that the spiritual chains of Sufi orders (silsilas) are linkages to Prophet Mohammad. Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th century scholar, remains the primary source for Wahabi ideology who was barred from teaching and jailed several times in Damascus for issuing heretical fatwas. Taymiyya’s life was spared because he publicly repented amid 700 scholars. He slandered the Caliphs Ali and Osman, discredited Sufi scholars like Ibn Arabi and Imam Ghazali, preaching that visiting the Prophet’s shrine was sin.

Inspired by Taymiyyas forgotten teachings Abd al-Wahab of Nejd in East Arabia saw himself as a reformer and preached that Muslims who sought intercession to God through Prophet Mohammad and the Sufis are polytheists who practice shirk (innovation).

Ibn Wahab’s initial devotees were largely Bedouins and he declared those who did not believe in his teachings as unbelievers. He told them: “It is halal (permissible) to kill and plunder Muslims who make mediators of the prophet and auliyas (Sufis) with a view to attain closeness to Allah.”

The Bedouins used the verdict to justify the loot of Haj pilgrims. Ibn Wahab taught that it was sinful to build tombs over graves and said: “If I could I would demolish the Prophet’s shrine.” He did not believe that waqf foundations were Islamic and pronounced that salaries to Qazis were unlawful bribes.

Ibn Wahab burnt original Sufi manuscripts including copies of the world famous Muslim prayer manual “Dalail ul Khairaat” by the 15th century Moroccan Sufi scholar Jazuli because along with salutations and blessings to the Prophet, its narrative included an eloquent portrait of the Prophet’s shrine. His followers plundered and desecrated the tomb of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain in Karbala.

Wahabi orthodoxy was a minor current in the Muslim world till promoted by the Al Saud dynasty that came to power in 1924. The house of Saud established matrimonial alliances with Ibn Wahab’s family furthering his strident teachings to justify their take-over of the holy cities and establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The royals ran bulldozers over the remnants of all meditation cells and the early Sufi tombs along with the adjoining mosques. The historical tombs of the Prophet’s family and his companions at Jannat ul-Maali and Jannat ul-Baqi, the sacred graveyards of Mecca and Medina were razed to the ground.

Mecca and Medina are now managed by the Wahabis and their control has robbed pilgrims of the right to express devotion in a manner of their choice. Constant patrol of the muttawas (religious police) ensures that pilgrims don’t touch the exteriors of the prophet’s shrine or offer salutations to him. At Medina turning towards the Prophet’s tomb for supplication (dua) is met with harsh reactions and pilgrims are forcibly turned around to face the direction of the Kabbah. Women are allowed in the compound but are subject to severe restrictions of time and space.

Through well-funded outreach organisations the Wahabis spread their version of Islam where listening to music, celebrating the annual birth anniversary of the Prophet (milad-e-nabi) and death anniversaries of the Sufis (Urs) are unlawful in Islam.

Be it for Muslims or non-Muslim, the Wahabi ideology is rooted in the politics of extremism and terror negating the Quranic message of peace and brotherhood. “Islam is a religion of peace,” has been reduced to a mere cliché.

Muslims have to become good communicators of that Quranic and prophetic message by reclaiming their lost intellectual heritage and reviving academic discourse on the rightful traditions of Islam.

“… and who saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of mankind.” — The Quran 5:32

[picture: Location of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan (marked with a red spot).
Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Masjid]

Spiritual peace: teachings for lovers

By Ali Usman - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Jandiala Sher Khan, a small town on Hafizabad Road, some 14 kilometres away from Sheikhupura gets over-packed from July 23 to 25 every year when people from all over Punjab visit the town to pay tribute to one of the greatest Sufi poets of Punjab, Waris Shah.

The town is the birthplace of Shah, called by many as the saint of love and tolerance. Shah was the most prominent Punjabi poet of the 18th century.

He was born in the house of Syed Gul Sher in 1722 and died in 1798 in the same village. He got his early education in a mosque in Jandiala Sher Khan. The mosque still exists to the northwest of the tomb.

The poet completed his formal education of Dars-e-Nizami in Kasur by Molvi Ghulam Murtaza Kasuri. Bullay Shah (another great Punjabi poet) had also been a student of the same seminary. Later, for spiritual training, Waris Shah went to Pakpattan at the shrine of Baba Fareed. He later became Imam in a mosque at Malika Hans.

Heer, a romantic folk tale, is considered Waris Shah’s masterpiece.

In the three-day fair of Shah’s urs, various events take place including kabaddi matches, horse dances, Punjabi poetry sessions, dramas of Heer Ranjha and many folk dances.

Ibrahim, a 70-year devotee, who had come to the fair from Shah Kot told Daily Times that the fair was a gathering of those who were against ‘stick-wielding Islam’ and ‘hardcore’ mullahs. He said he had visited the shrine for many years and participation in the fair gave him spiritual peace. He said he was illiterate but his love for Sufism had taught him to say verses. He said he loved participating in the poetry competition held at the festival.

“Waris Shah’s teachings are for lovers. Those who do not believe in love cannot benefit from the shrine”, he said.

He said Waris Shah was a great inspiration for those who believed in love.

Like in other years, this year, a Punjabi poetry competition (Mushiara) was held on the first day of the urs in which winners were awarded cash prizes. Competitions of flute playing and kabaddi were also held on the first day. The final competition and a special programme of reciting folk tales was held on Wednesday.

Bibi Hajan, a devotee from Gujranwala, said Shah was a saint and the wishes of those who visited his shrine were fulfilled. She said there was a tradition at the shrine of tying strings and making a wish. “Those who do not have doubt and malice in their hearts come to open the strings and distribute langar (free food) among the devotees”.

She said she believed that Waris Shah was a mystic who kept the spark of love alight in people’s heart.

Amjad Ali Zaragar, a Lahori dervish said he attended the fair every year along with his followers. He said the place was a refuge for those who had to face criticism for falling in love.

Auqaf Department takes over shrine after succession dispute

By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Auqaf Department has taken over the shrine of Chiragh Ali Shah after a succession dispute within the family of Auqaf minister Sahabzada Saeedul Hassan, Daily Times has learnt.

Sources told Daily Times on Sunday that the minister’s cousins had alleged official manoeuvring on the minister’s part, while the minister, who is an equal claimant to succession of the shrine, called his cousins’ allegation baseless.

The shrine of Chiragh Shah, the Auqaf minister’s grandfather, was formally taken over by the department last week. The minister and his cousin Syed Hassan Hayat are claiming succession.

“Our family has been quarrelling for some time now and this shrine has become the bone of contention,” said Hayat Shah and his younger brother Syed Zahid Hussain Shah.They alleged that Saeedul Hassan had used the Auqaf Department for personal issues and had also violated the shrine’s sanctity.

Zahid Shah claimed that his brother Hayat Shah was the true successor to their grandfather’s legacy.Saeedul Hassan denied the allegations, saying the Auqaf Department had received many complaints from the people against Hayat and Zahid Shah. He said that was why the department decided to step in and control the situation. He said that as a minister it was his responsibility to improve the quality of the shrine and help followers by setting up a darul aloom in the structure.

He also alleged that his cousins went against family tradition and sold taweez (talismans) and other relics to make money. “Their activities are defaming my family and causing problems for us,” he said, adding that he would take a stance against them.

He said Sufism did not preach people to be materialistic and that was why it was wrong for his cousins to do such stuff.

Anwar Ali Shah, the minister’s younger brother, alleged that the cousins had exploited poor women and made money off of them. He said the Auqaf Department would soon ask the brothers to leave the shrine. Tassawar Ejaz Malik, Auqaf Department zonal administrative, said the shrine had been given to the department after a lot of people had complained against the minister’s cousins.

Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Auqaf Department state officer, said that under the Waqf Property Ordinance 1979 and revised rules framed by the department under the ordinance in 2002, the department could take over any shrine or property on the grounds complaints received by locals or if the shrine income was more than its expenditures.

“In the Chiragh Shah shrine case, we received complaints from individuals and also conducted a survey through our administrator and revenue officer,” he said, adding, “The report showed that the income of the shrine was much more than its expenditures”.

Syed Chiragh Ali Shah, commonly known as Baba Jee Sarkar, was a saint and mystic poet who attracted people from far and wide. After his death people built a shrine on his grave. Chiragh Ali Shah was born at Anmbala city in 1877 and adhered to the Qadria Order.

In 1954 he shifted to Walton where he passed away on April 4, 1969. Chiragh Shah served his mentor for 30 years while his son Syed Irshad Hussain Shah, also known as Hafiz Sarkar, served his father for 36 years. Hafiz Sarkar is the Auqaf minister’s father.

On average about 500 devotees visit the shrine every day.

Islam and reform round up

By Ali Eteraz - The Huffington Post - NY, NY, U.S.A.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I have noticed a glut of information among average Americans on reform and progressive Islam. This causes many Americans to buy into dishonest ideas about Muslims and the Muslim world, such as: they need us to save themselves.

In this occasional "round up" series I will direct people to interesting theological and political developments as well as good blogs, books and articles on lifestyle stuff.

* Discussion about a major Pakistani scholar who helped repeal the heinous rape laws of 1979 which had required four witnesses to prove a rape case. His sustained attack on violent interpretations of Islam is also highlighted, as well as his background. I consider him one of the three most important Muslims in the world today.

* Blogger compares flirting in New York with flirting in Kuwait. Balances it out with news about female activist who is a role model for Kuwaiti women.

* Essential blog on Muslim world and democracy.

* This blogger wants someone to start monitoring Muslim fashion - and links to some pictures.

* Egyptian-American enters country music, and does it well.

* Major American-Muslim leader says that holocaust denial is against Islam.

* Muslims for Progressive Values, based in the U.S., get their official launch.

* I discover an excellent website to get information about Iran.

* UK Muslim argues that terrorism must be condemned for its "inherent injustice."

* A good book to read about how a Muslim jurist reconcile injustice among Muslims and his faith is The Search for Beauty in Islam.

* In the mood for a novel about genies, Sufis and the Israeli Defense Force? Check out Irving Karchmar's Master of the Jinn. It's Sufism meets The Mummy. In the tradition of cool Sufi things, its affordable!

* Yahya Birt's blog deals with radicalism and deradicalization among UK Muslims, multiculturalism and the Islamic tradition. Heavier, but necessary, fare.

* Harvard Law Review article about one of Pakistan's persecuted minority community.

* Egypt's Grand Mufti affirms liberal democracy. Now if they could only get rid of that dictator.

* In order to recognize that Islamic Reform is not necessarily a theological movement but something part and parcel of world human rights and social justice, it would be apt to read this commentary on the state of the world's human rights by the head of Amnesty International.

* Just so we know there is a lot of hard work left, here are a couple of bad news items.

That's all. If readers wish to share news items they come across, email them to me: eteraz at gmail dot com. If you are a blogger and want to share a post, stop by my blog when I do a "round up call."

He spoke it better

By Jonathan Rothman - Exclaim! - Canada

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Gaudi is an Italian-born, UK-based producer, composer and arranger with an eclectic discography full of dub-infused surprises.

This time out, he uses sacred vocals from the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (“the Bob Marley of Pakistan”), revered as a master of Qawwali, the devotional Sufi music of the subcontinent.

Dub Qawwali balances the bouncy tones and sampled wonder of dub reggae with Khan’s trademark vocals, in this case newly discovered recordings from late ’60s/early ’70s studio sessions in Pakistan, around which Gaudi was entrusted to compose new music.

Standout tracks like album opener “Bethe Bethe Kese Kese” plays off Khan’s more contemplative side, with backing tablas, flute and Sarangi (Indian fiddle), while “Ena Akhiyan Noo” blends the sublime vocals with easy dancehall and dub.

What’s your connection to the man and his music?
My connection is that of an explorer inspired by the work of a great master. My aim from the start was to create something fresh while staying true to the essence of the material: Nusrat’s vocals. [I now have] an even greater respect for his music, what he achieved, and is still achieving, with and through his music: touching and moving people the world over regardless of colour or creed.

He knew that music is the only truly international language and an amazing way to break down barriers and prejudice. The difference is that he spoke it better than most.

What about Qawwali music compels you to give it the dub/reggae treatment?
I must admit to having a natural compulsion to give everything the dub/reggae treatment — in all my 11 album releases you can definitely spot it. However, in this case I felt this urge was fully supported by Nusrat.

Sufism teaches peace, love and tolerance, something for which Nusrat was a very active and global ambassador. This is what I have tried, in my way, to convey through this album — a musical melting of boundaries and unification through song.

[Listen to samples: http://www.amazon.com/Dub-Qawwali-Gaudi/dp/B000RHRG4O ]

Rumi Festival 2007

The Rifa'i Maruf'i Order of North America invites seekers of all ages to the 10th Rumi Festival
celebrating the 800th Birthday of Rumi.

The Festival will be held from Wednesday, September 26th to Sunday, September 30th,
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A., with concerts, workshops, zikr and various events.

Read more about this joyous event and register online at:
http://www.melloweb.com/home/

Solitary devotion

By Vivek Sharma - Desicritics.org - Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rilke is the Rumi, Kabir, Gibran of the German language. As a poet, as a seeker, he explored the limits of his knowledge and belief. He translated his solitary thoughts into poetry which has music, meaning and agelessness.

What this prose, these letters contain is a faithful, forthright, candid and very modest, searching, guiding voice of Rilke.

In these letters, written to a younger poet, who sought Rilke's guidance, Rilke chalks out his whole ideology of what poetry must be, and how a poet must reach above, beyond and deep within himself, to arrive at the inevitable verse, which is both timely and timeless, not only for himself but also for the reader.

As a craft, poetry is full of solitary devotion. The premium and investment in terms of poet's emotional and intellectual effort is seldom rewarded. A poet lives on the edge, and always runs the danger of tipping into the pits of self-pity, destruction and death-like poverty.

The world seldom honors a poet in his prime, rather the best of the best poets compose their work in spite of the social, political and economic obligations they need to fulfill, obligations that motivate poetry, as well as impede the writing of it.

Sheer talent is not enough, mere vocabulary does not quite make you one, rhyming words and dedication are mere abilities, knowledge of published works is important, and yet what Rilke strove for, what Rilke achieved and what he advises the readers/poets to seek is a state where all these attributes synchronize to produce a poem that is at once lyrical and philosophical, understated yet powerful, terse yet tactful, and most importantly, honest and heartfelt.

(...)

What's the Secret?

By Haroon Siddiqui - The Star - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Dakar, Senegal: We know Senegal as the westernmost point of Africa, a shipping point of the old slave trade, and, lately, the Dakar Rally and as West Africa's most politically stable country where governments change democratically.

Senegal should also be known as the nation that upends the West's received wisdom on Muslims.
This is not Al Qaeda turf. And the 10 million people (94 per cent Muslim, 6 per cent Christian) here don't fit any cliché.

There are no hijabs in sight, but women are observant. They pray at work and in the mosques, where, unlike in some Muslim lands, they are welcome.

What's most striking about the women – more than their colourful long robes and matching turbans – is their confident bearing. They exhibit neither hostility nor deference to men. They seem their sovereign selves.

They enjoy equality in property and other matters under a law that's a fusion of the sharia and the French civil code.

Singing and dancing are integral parts of life. Youssou N'Dour, the singer, songwriter and band leader whose keening, haunting voice transcends the language barrier to touch audiences the world over, learned to perform with his mother, a griot singer of oral songs dating back to pre-Islamic times.

Music here is infused with the spirituality of the Islamic Sufi sects to which most Senegalese belong. In his Grammy-winning CD, Egypt (2004), N'Dour invokes "Touba, Touba," the headquarters of the Mouridi order of which he is a member.

Touba, 200 kilometres north of Dakar, is where the sect's founder Shaikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke (1850-1927) is buried. In 1891, the mystic claimed to have seen the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. As he amassed a mass following, the French colonials feared he might raise an army of resistance. They exiled him, to Gabon (1895-1902) and Mauritania (1903-1907). That only made him more popular.

The French let him return once they realized he was a pacifist, like Mahatma Gandhi in India against British colonial rule.

Bamba was also apolitical, preaching the Greater Jihad of controlling oneself, a war fought not with weapons but, as per his simplified creed, hard work and fidelity to the spiritual master.
His mausoleum is a popular place of pilgrimage. His descendant, Shaikh Saliou Mbacke, is the current head of the sect.

The day I was there he was available to his followers, not to speak to but to be glimpsed at through an iron grille as he sat in a silent praying repose. Such veneration – saint worship, in critical theological parlance – is not exclusive to Senegal. But it seemed to me to be pervasive here.

The evening I returned from Touba, I went to listen to a backup singer for Baaba Ma'al, that other great Senegalese performer, and saw the bar crowd swaying to his Sufi chant of "Mouridi, Mouridi."

Religion is not divisive here. Churches stand next to mosques. Muslim-Christian marriages are common. The first post-colonial president, Leopold Senghor (1960-80), was a Christian. An acclaimed poet, he remains an icon for Muslims as well.

"He taught us that before we were Christian or Muslim, we were Negroes," says Boucounta Diallo, a noted lawyer, who served as Senghor's aide. "We have African and Christian and Muslim identities. And our faith, Islam or Christianity, is a moderating force."

During the Danish cartoon crisis, there was no rioting, though the people were no less offended.
"When a Muslim is hurt anywhere, I am hurt as well but it doesn't mean I have to react the way he does," Atou Diagne, a senior Mouridi executive in Touba, told me.

What's the secret of Senegalese serenity?
"You have to draw your own conclusions."

Not all moderation is spiritual. The government tends to be authoritarian and people know their limits.

The point about the Senegalese way is not whether it is right or wrong but that it is a testimonial to the diversity of Muslims.

[picture: Gazelles "dama mhorr" from the Guembeul Wildlife Park.
Photo: Laurent Gerrer, Senegal Tourist Office http://www.tourisme-senegal.com/index.html]

Qawwali at the shrine

PTI - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, July 22, 2007

The 795th annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti virtually concluded Sunday, July 22, with thousands of devouts witnessing the performing of the Chatti ka Rasma here.

"With today's rituals nearly 90 per cent of the Urs is considered over," said Qutubuddin Saki, a khadim at the shrine. "Most of the devouts have already started returning," he said.

The Urs that began on July 16 will finally conclude on Wednesday July 25 [today] with the performing of the Bade Kul ki Rasma when the whole shrine would be cleaned and fragrant waters sprinkled.

A chadar on behalf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was offered today. Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] devouts participated in the Urs.

Every night, qawwali mehfils were also organised at the shrine premises.

[picture: The dargah of Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti, Ajmer.
Photo from The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]

Within the borders of İstanbul

By Zeki Gülen - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Friday, July 20, 2007

İstanbul has been named European Capital of Culture for 2010. When we talk about culture and cultural activities in İstanbul, we consistently see one name again and again: Kültür A.Ş.

The company, which translates into English as the Culture Commercial Corporation, undertakes cultural activities and projects within the borders of İstanbul.

The numerous tasks it undertakes are appreciated of Turkey's cultural capital's residents. Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan, an author and a lover of İstanbul, talked about their activities and the plans of the company in an interview with Today's Zaman.

Kültür A.Ş. is one of 22 corporations of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It was established in 1989 to carry out the municipality's cultural policies. It has been consistently growing since its beginning and its growth is accelerating.

It also has a bookstore specializing in İstanbul, where those interested can lay their hands on myriad books about the city. From this point of view, the bookstore is unique in Turkey and even in the world, Mr. Bayhan claims.

Kültür A.Ş is also a prolific publisher. It publishes books about İstanbul and İstanbul's cultural heritage. Among these are "The Women's Heritage of the East" (Doğunun Kadın Mirası), "Foreign Palaces in İstanbul" (İstanbul'da Yabancı Saraylar) and "Photographs of İstanbul from the Archives of Sultan Abdülhamid II" (2. Abdülhamit Han Arşivinden İstanbul Fotoğrafları).

(...)

Mr. Bayhan also mentioned a periodical that Kültür A.Ş. Publishes: "1453." He explains why they chose the publication's headline as the year that the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople.

"We believe that the city's diversified life started in 1453. The believers of the three monotheistic religions came together to live in peace and harmony. However these days you cannot see a single place in the world where these people live together in peace. So we named it 1453."

Bayhan also commented on UNESCO's decision to label 2007 as the Year of Mevlana. But first he apologized to the people of Konya: "[Mevlana Jelaluddin] Rumi was born in Belh and lived in Konya. However, Rumi's philosophy and thoughts developed and lived in İstanbul, which was the capital of the Ottoman state. Therefore, we had to organize many activities to introduce him to the world in this year".

"We organized many different activities and our activities are still ongoing. We organized events about Rumi in Taksim Square, Bakırköy Square and the Harbiye Open-air Theater. Those activities will continue until Dec. 17".

[picture: Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan poses for a photograph next to a replica of the Haydarpaşa Train Station at Miniatürk. Miniatürk is a park that boasts miniature replicas of historical buildings in Turkey, operated by Kültür A.Ş.]

Introducing Rumi: from Story-telling to Postcards making

MNA -Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Friday, July 20, 2007

The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) plans to set up several camps for more than 600 young adults in commemoration of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi from July 21 until August 18.

Five separate groups of young people from different provinces, including active members of IIDCYA’s libraries, winners of book-reading competitions and junior writers will be sent to Delgosha Camp in Chalus (a city in north Iran).

The various programs which will be organized include introducing Rumi in story-telling sessions, literary workshops on poetry, reciting stories from the Masnavi, reviewing books on the theme of Masnavi’s stories and making postcards on the topic of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi.

IIDCYA will either publish the participants’ artistic and literary works in the form of books or display them in an exhibition in the near future.

[picture: an IIDCYA' Children's publication, from: http://tinyurl.com/24ln35 ]

We should start with Dialogue

By Akbar Ahmed - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Rajab 8, 1428 / Sunday, July 22, 2007

What went wrong: Bush Still Doesn't Get It

Here's a bit of modern-day heresy: President Bush actually has some rather sound instincts about the Muslim world. He has visited mosques more often than any of his predecessors, and he frequently talks of winning Muslim hearts and minds. So why are those hearts and minds so estranged today? What went wrong?

The problem is that Bush has relied on ill-informed advisers and out-of-touch experts. By substituting their false expertise for his own sensible intuitions, he has failed to understand the Muslim world -- which means he has failed to understand the arena in which the first post-9/11 presidency will be judged. Instead of seriously explaining Muslim societies that are profoundly split in complex ways, Bush's aides have offered a fatally flawed stereotype of Islam as monolithic and violent.

These missteps have helped squander the potential goodwill of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- countries that pose major threats to U.S. security, and countries that once saw themselves as U.S. friends. (When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, I was the administrator in charge of south Waziristan, the lawless border region of Pakistan where Osama bin Laden is now said to be hiding, and I saw how appreciative Muslims were of U.S. support.) Today, rather than extending his hand to the people of Pakistan, Bush is marching in lockstep with the country's fading dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is mockingly referred to as "Busharraf."

Errors like this are tragic -- and avoidable. Galvanized by the need to help Americans better comprehend the Muslim world, I traveled last year to the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, accompanied by a group of American researchers. We conducted interviews; we met with presidents, prime ministers, sheiks and students; we visited mosques, madrassas and universities. During our travels, we found something far more subtle than the Bush administration's caricature.

Americans often hear of a faith neatly split between "moderates" and "extremists." In fact, we discovered three broad categories of Muslim responses to the modern world: the mystics, the modernists and the literalists.

The mystics are the most tolerant and the least political, defined by a universalist worldview that embraces difference rather than resisting it. Muslims in this group look to sages such as the great Sufi poet Rumi for inspiration. "I go to a synagogue, church and a mosque, and I see the same spirit and the same altar," Rumi once said. You'll find today's mystics in such places as Iran, Morocco and Turkey.

Then there's the modernist position, one taken by Muslims who seek to adapt to Western modernity, synthesize it with their faith traditions and live in dialogue with it. Some of the most prominent Muslim thinkers in recent times have belonged to this school, such as Muhammad Abduh, the liberal Egyptian religious scholar who led a drive in the late 19th century to shake the dust off Islamic institutions and dogmas that he believed were lagging behind the times.

Some of the most important Muslim politicians, such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the staunchly secularist founder of modern Turkey, have felt similar impatience with the faith's old ways.

You'll still find plenty of modernists in Turkey today, as well as such countries as Jordan and Malaysia. In fact, a few decades ago it seemed that these forward-looking interpretations would become the dominant expression of Islam, and reform-minded Muslim countries seemed poised to join the community of nations.

For me, the quintessential modernist was Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The urbane, sophisticated Jinnah believed ardently in women's rights and minority rights, and in 1947, he almost single-handedly created what was then the largest Muslim nation on Earth. For Pakistanis, he is George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson rolled into one. He founded a new country without compromising his principles or breaking the law, rejected hostage-takings, hijackings and assassinations, and he idolized Abraham Lincoln.

Jinnah is a far cry from our third category, the literalists. This group also arose in the 19th century, but it draws its ethos, attitudes and rhetoric from one central perception: that Islam is under attack. It sees Western ideas such as liberalism, women's rights and democracy as threats, not opportunities.

In response to the incursions into the Muslim world of the great Western empires, this group sought to draw firm boundaries around Islam and prevent it from being infected by alien influences. The literalist worldview has inspired a range of Muslim activists, from the Taliban to mainstream political parties such as South Asia's Jamaat-i-Islami, which participate in elections while producing influential tracts on Islam. While this entire school's theology is profoundly traditional, only a tiny minority of the group advocates terrorism.

The vast majority of Muslim literalists simply want to live according to what they see as the best traditions of their faith.

But you're more likely to see media images of bearded young men wearing skullcaps and yelling "God is great" and "Death to the Great Satan" than you are to see scholars at work. The angry activists are now on the ascendancy, according to our study. The reasons for their rise are complex: the incompetence and corruption of modernist Muslim leaders from Egypt to Pakistan to Southeast Asia; the widening gap between a crooked elite and the rest of the population; the absence of decent schools, economic opportunities and social welfare programs; and the failure of modernist leaders to douse burning regional conflicts such as Chechnya, Kashmir and Palestine.

The U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan poured gallons of fuel on a worldwide fire. Bush's wars gave the literalists support for their claim that Islam is under siege; the crude Muslim-bashing of some of Bush's supporters helps the literalists argue that Islam is also being attacked by the Western media, which many Muslims believe represents the thinking of the West's citizenry.

In this context, parodies of the prophet Muhammad or the cloddish Republican talking point branding Muslims as "Islamofascists" helped convince wavering Muslims that their faith was truly a target.

Remember Jerry Falwell's post-9/11 abuse of the Prophet, in which the late televangelist dismissed as a "terrorist" the man whom Muslims named as their foremost role model in our questionnaires? Such slurs helped boost Pakistani religious parties in the 2002 elections in Northwest Frontier Province, where the clerics had never before won more than a few seats. Overnight, the Taliban found a friendly base.

Americans who think that all Muslims hate the United States may be surprised to hear that many Muslims believe they have it precisely backward. Our questionnaires showed that Muslims worldwide viewed Islamophobia in the West as the No. 1 threat they faced. Many Muslims told us that the Western media depict them as terrorists or likens them to Nazis.

Such widespread perceptions let literalist clerics argue that Islam must defend itself against a rapacious West -- something the mystics and modernists were incapable of doing.

Today, all these factors have coalesced to convince ordinary Muslims -- from Somalia to Indonesia -- that Islam is indeed threatened and that the United States is leading the charge. As a Muslim, I grieve the fact that modernist leaders such as Jinnah have become irrelevant. And as someone living in the United States, I fear that the danger of another terrorist strike is as high as ever.

Our study did suggest ways to make progress. With a wiser strategy and a mighty reduction of hubris, the United States could still improve its relations with the Muslim world. Americans need to accept that the Muslim literalists are here to stay, that their position is deeply felt and that it deserves to be engaged with. U.S. policymakers need to keep an eye on the mystics and modernists, too; they are not the problem, but continued attacks on Islam will push many of them into supporting the literalists.

To change the tenor of Washington's conversations with the Muslim world, symbolic gestures are important, such as Bush's visits to American mosques. But we need substantive action, too. For one thing, U.S. diplomats should make an effort to come out from their embassy fortresses and meet with cultural and religious leaders. That simple step would do much to make friends for America.

Beyond that, Washington's interaction with Muslim nations needs to be better thought out. We need to marginalize the violent fringe and build deeper ties with mainstream literalists who are suspicious of the West but shun violence. Take U.S. aid to Pakistan, which has added up to about $10 billon since 9/11. Much of this goes toward buying gunships and tanks, which ordinary Pakistanis say are used against them. In other words, U.S. aid is being used in ways that boost anti-Americanism -- hardly a smart policy.

Instead, the United States should stipulate that half of its aid go to building up Pakistan's tattered educational structures, with a special focus on madrassas that eschew violence. Overnight, hearts and minds would begin to change; Muslims hold education especially dear, and if governments won't provide it, parents will be tempted to go to whomever will.

Bush does not have much time left, but he can still avert disaster. Above all, we should start with dialogue. We might wind up with friendship.

About the Author: Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic studies at American University and the author, most recently, of "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

[picture: A female Iranian, wearing the Islamic Chador, passes by a painting of a revolver in front of the former US embassy in Teheran. Image by © Abedin Taherkenareh/epa/Corbis]

Journeys with my Grandpa

By Jon Fear - The Record - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, July 21, 2007

Journeys with my Grandpa by Inci Kuzucuoglu

Inci Kuzucuoglu of Kitchener (Ontario) is the author of three books in the Turkish language. This is her first in English.

It presents Sufi stories (Sufism is a tradition of beliefs within Islam) that were written or told by her husband's great-great-grandfather.

Presented in the form of letters to young people, the stories offer advice on life.

Inci Kuzucuoglu
Journeys with my Grandpa
Ilbeyi Publications
softcover, 108 pages, $14.95

To order this book, write by e-mail to mailto:kuzucuoglu@hotmail.com or by post to Ilbeyi Publications, 510 Pioneer Dr., Kitchener, N2P 1N5.

Konya Sufis are coming home

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The works of Konya Sufis set to return to their homeland

The works of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all citizens of Konya at one time or another in centuries gone by, have long resided in various countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Azer-baijan, France and Iran, but not for much longer.

Various tomes and commentaries on their writings are finally coming home to roost in a new, purpose-built department at the Konya Manuscripts Library.

The director of the library, Bekir Şahin, announced they had launched a joint project with the Mevlana Research Center of Seljuk University to bring together the works of Mevlana, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all of which occupy an invaluable place in Turco-Islamic culture and with inextricable ties to Konya.

Şahin also mentioned that they were planning another section in the library dedicated to Nasreddin Hodja.

They have managed to trace and bring much of the renowned Sufi manuscripts to Konya already, but there is still plenty to do.

"We have been working for over a year. We worked hard as this year is the [UNESCO designated] Year of Rumi," Şahin recalled, adding: "We are planning to gather all that was written on their ideas and these men of love. Up till now, we have been focusing our efforts on locating their work.
Our efforts to bring them to Konya continue. This will not be a limited process: We will continue to bring all such works to Konya in the coming years."

He highlighted that the oldest known copy of Mevlana's masterpiece, "Mesnevi," was already being displayed in the manuscripts library.

"We found the older copies particularly in Azerbaijan and Dubai. We brought in one of Konevi's works, a diary, from the Yusufağa Manuscripts Library, also in Konya. We have been given serious support by the Sadreddin Konevi Research Center, founded by the Meram Municipality"

"We have currently found 73 manuscripts related to Nasreddin Hodja. We also found that France is an important source for manuscripts. We have thus formed an important resource on Nasreddin Hodja," he said.

[picture: Konya Books from http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/archive.html]

A living example

Times of India - India
Friday, July 20, 2007

Ajmer: Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] Muslims offered Friday prayers at the annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti here on Friday with two Union ministers offering chadar on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Union ministers Prithviraj Chauhan and N N Meena offered the chadar at the dargah.

A chadar sent by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will be offered at the tomb on Saturday.

As many as 462 Pakistanis attended the prayers conducted by Shahar Kaji Hafij Tauseef.


In his message sent on the occasion, Manmohan Singh said Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti spread the message of love, affection, brotherhood and integrity among all humans.

The visit to the dargah by people of all religions is a living example of acceptance of the Khwaja's preachings. Singh also called upon people of the country to take inspirations from the life and work of the Khwaja.

The 795th edition of the Urs that began on Monday, July 16 will end on Sunday, July 22.

The dargah premises was totally packed with devouts by 11 am for the afternoon prayers.

[picture: Entrance to the cave wherein Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti performed his retreat.
Photo from: The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]

Rare Bird flies free

By Peyman Nasehpour - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

The outstanding master of daf and Sufi music, Haj Khalifeh Mirza Agha Ghosi passed away on July 17, 2007, as Iranian news agencies reported.

Ostad Mirza Agha Ghosi was born in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province of Iran, 1928. He learned the art of daf playing and Sufi vocal music during his teenage from his father the late Haji Ghosi and later Darvish Karim.

He was appointed 'Khalifeh' (spritual leader) by Sheikh Abdolkarim Kasnazani of Kirkuk, a city in Kurdistan of Iraq. He was one of the oldest daf players of Iran and he had a very nice vocals. He performed in many festivals in Iran, France, Colombia, Turkey, Panama, Peru and Ecuador.

In the famous Avignon Festival he was entitled to 'Rare Bird'.

[visit: http://www.rhythmweb.com/peyman/
for more on Persian and Azerbaijiani percussion music]

Nostalgia for Istanbul

By Kathy Hamilton - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, July 19, 2007

One of the best places for an escape from the heat of the day, or the overexertion from shopping in the Grand Bazaar, is Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi, built between 1707 and 1708, under the auspices of the grand vizier to Ahmet III, Ali Paşa of Çorlu.

Originally built as a medrese, or theological school, it also served as a Qadiri Sufi tekke, or dervish lodge. When all the Sufi orders were closed after the beginning of the republic, this tekke’s doors closed too.

The cells that had once housed religious students and dervishes were rented out to shoe makers.

During the 1960s and early 1970s it was converted into student dormitories. In the mid-1970s its current incarnation began as it became a local center for carpet sellers and restorers.

The enchanting nargile garden, entered through an archway from the tram street, is one of the main reasons people stop here. Wisps of the softly scented tobaccos waft overhead and fill the air with their aromas. This shady garden is the ideal site for unwinding over a glass of tea or coffee. Water pipes are not smoked to relieve tension, but instead, are a way to linger with friends old and new and pass the time.

There is no hurry here -- everyone is welcome to stay for as long as they like, perhaps striking up conversations and friendships with their neighbors at the next table who also appreciate the art of relaxation.

The second side of the medrese is often overlooked by tourists, but it draws carpet dealers, textile collectors and museum curators from around the world. While life in the first courtyard revolves around the leisurely pace of the tea garden, this part of the complex is centered on carpets and kilims, flat woven rugs. The restorers in this area are known worldwide for their exacting work.

In nice weather you can find them huddled over carpets spread out in the courtyard next to the small mosque. If you’re lucky, you may even find Sufi story teller, amateur historian, actor and renowned carpet expert Abdullah Gündoğdu working in his shop or tending the flower garden.

This is an ideal place to look at carpets in a hassle-free environment and ask questions. In contrast to the bazaar and Sultanahmet carpet stores with salesmen trying to lure in customers, here the atmosphere is so easygoing that it sometimes seems that the shopkeepers are more intent on visiting and sipping tea than concentrating on making sales to the few tourists who happen to wander through.

This famous setting is well worth the visit. The ambiance evokes a sense of nostalgia for İstanbul as it was before the tour busses and millions of residents arrived to quicken the pace of everyday life. Here is a place to withdraw from sensory overload and stress while calmly reflecting on events of the day and letting your biggest worry be which flavor of tobacco and what type of tea you will have next.

The easiest way to get to Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi is by tram. The archways leading to the courtyards face Yeniçeriler Caddesi, the tramway street. From the Çemberlitaş stop, walk towards to Grand Bazaar. The entrance will be on the right side. From the Beyazıt tram stop, walk past the entrance to the bazaar and the medrese will be on the left. The nargile garden is open daily from mid-morning until past midnight.

[Picture: The nargile garden has long been known as a favorite hang out for university professors, students and tourists.]

Seeking restoration

UNI - Indlaw.com - New Delhi, India
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to state government and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association seeking restoration of dargah of Sufi Vali Gujarati here.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Y R Meena and Justice Akil Kureshi, issued notices to the state and AMC, which are returnable by August 13.

A PIL was filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association, through its secretary Pathan Firozkhan Ahmedkhan, seeking restoration of dargah.

Advocate Dr Mukul Sinha, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the riotous mob, supported by the ruling party, had gone on rampage and demolished the dargah on February 28, 2002. Adv Sinha submitted that after demolishing the dargah, the mob had constructed a make-shift mandir 'Hulladiya Godhariya Hanuman', which was later removed by the AMC.

According to petitioner, Vali Gujarati, as he was popularly known, was a renowned Sufi Saint; therefore, it is essential to protect and preserve the historical heritage and culture of the country.

The petitioner stated that they had made several attempts in the past for restoration of the shrine and had approached the government, AMC and even the NHRC, but none came forward to help them in restoration of the dargah.

Koinna at Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival

By Ershad Kamol - The Daily Star - Dhaka, Bangladesh

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

As part of the ongoing Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Theatre Troupe Mahakal Natyasampradaya to mark its 24th anniversary, Prachyanat* will stage Koinna today [July 18th] at the Experimental Stage.

Koinna, a play by Murad Khan, brings to light a debate between Shariah and Marfat.

Inhabitants of a make-believe village, Kalaruka, believe that the spirit 'Koinna Pir' has possessed a widower, Naior. The villagers are also convinced that Bahurupi, the inseparable companion of Koinna Pir, lives in the pond near Naior's house.

Kalaruka residents are followers of Marfat (a branch of Sufism) and consider Naior as their saviour. On the other hand, Shahebzada and his followers, who are the followers of Shariah, strongly oppose the existence of Koinna Pir.

The play ends with a conflict between the two rival groups.

Azad Abul Kalam is the director of the play. M. Shaiful Islam is the set and light designer.

---

On the inaugural ceremony [July 14th] of the Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Mahakal Natyasampradaya to celebrate its 24th anniversary, discussants urged for a change in the contemporary theatre scenario of Bangladesh.

Eminent playwright-litterateur Syed Shamsul Haque was the chief guest at the inaugural session, which was held yesterday at the Experimental Theatre Stage. Other renowned theatre personalities speaking at the programme were Ataur Rahman, Mamunur Rashid, Nasiruddin Yousuff, Tariq Anam Khan and Golam Kuddus.

The session was presided over by MA Azad, president of Mahakal Natyasampradaya. Meer Zahid Hassan, convenor of the festival committee delivered the welcome speech.

Reviewing the current theatre scenario of the country theatre director-actor-playwright Tariq Anam said, "It's true that some new theatre venues have been operating in the country, but how many quality productions we are offering and how many people are watching those plays? Unless the participation of the younger generation as theatre activists as well as audience is ensured we can't expect a boom in theatre."

Other cultural programmes held on the opening ceremony were a staging of a few scenes from Shikhondikatha by the actors of Mahakal and presentation of a srutinataok (recitation of a theatre performance) titled Hazar Churashir Maa, by the artistes of Katha Abritti Charcha Kendra.

Moreover, Chanu Gayener Dal from Manikganj performed Kalu Gazir Pala, an indigenous performing art form based production. In the evening Mahakal Natyasampradaya staged Shikhondikatha, written by Anon Zaman and directed by Haroonur Rashid. Shikhondikatha features the sufferings and struggles of the transgendered individuals.

The 11-day theatre festival continues till July 25 with a gap of two days. Other plays included in the festival are Bhager Manush, Shamayer Proyojoney, Koinna, Projapoti, Bou Bashonti, Rupoboti, Jalodash, Meraj Fakirer Maa, Nakshi Kanthar Math and Raarang.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/14/d707141401125.htm

*Prachyanat School of Acting and Design, an offshoot of the young theatre group Prachyanat.

[picture: Actors of Prachyanat in Koinna ]

Conquerors of the heart

[From the French language press]:

Le processus d’islamisation a été entamé par les commerçants et les juristes. Mais force est de reconnaître que c’est avec l’Islam confrérique que la religion musulmane a conquis les cœurs des populations de l’Afrique subsaharienne.

Le Soleil, Sénégal - mercredi 18 juillet 2007 - par Babacar Bachir Sane

The process of Islamization was started by the tradesmen and the lawyers. But force is to recognize that it is with the Islam of Brotherhoods that the religion of Islam conquered the hearts of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa.

Introducing “Tijaniya, cement of the co-operation between Senegal and Morocco” (during the "week of Senegal" in Morocco), the Moroccan scholar Jellali el-Adnani, said that the practice of Sufism by the sub-Saharan communities, in particular by the Wolof community of Senegal made it possible to tie very strong relations between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Many pilgrims in departure or on return from Mecca do visit the tomb of the founder of the tariqa [Tijaniya] in Fez. For Jellali El Adnani, the relations between Sénégal and Morocco should not stop at the stage of Brotherhoods, they should open more, the more so as the number of affiliated in Senegal is the largest in th Islamic world.

[picture from http://www.fao.org/ ]

Is it Taqwa or loneliness?

By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Shrines, as opposed to popular belief, still seem to be greatly visited by Lahoris, as indicated by the Auqaf Department officials that more than three million people visit shrines every month.

Many moderate-religious scholars and psychiatrists of Lahore seem to think that the activity is aimed to escape from reality.

Devotees, on the other hand, declared it a means to purify, achieve mental satisfaction that arrives from the feeling of fulfilling religious duties and a platform to thank God.

There are 53 shrines and tombs of Sufi Saints in Lahore that fall under the Auqaf Department. The most visited shrine was of Syed Abul Hassan Ali (Data Gunj Baksh) with an average of 1.5 million people every month, said Dr Tahir Raza, director of religious affairs at the Auqaf Department. Other popularly visited shrines are of Baba Shah Jamal, Mian Mir, Bibian Pakdaman, Madhu Lal, Pir Makki, Shahabuddin Punj Pir, Shah Chiragh, Shah Inayat Qadri, Phiro Shaheed, Bagh Ali Shah, Pir Bhola, Syed Musa, Shah Gada, Miran Badsha, Pir Hassan Shah Wali, Abdullah Shah Bukhari, Syed Mahmood Shah and Ghore Shah Saeen.

Islamic scholar and member of Council of Islamic Ideology and executive director of Al Maward Institute in Lahore Allama Javaid Ahmad Ghamidi said the material-oriented lifestyle of the West had penetrated even in the bedrooms of the East because of the media.

He said as a result, people wanted an escape from their superficial lives to explore their spiritual selves; therefore, they sought refuge in mysticism.

He said, “Sufi Saints aimed to spread the message of love, peace, building of interfaith harmony and brotherhood, and to end hatred to enhance humanity, therefore, we should follow the examples set by them.”

Dr Saad Malik, head of the Psychiatry Department of Allama Iqbal Medical University and the Jinnah Hospital, contradicted the spiritual reasoning behind visiting shrines.

He said that back in the day, families were more closely knit. He said if an issue was encountered, the entire clan would sit together to resolve it, hence each family member had the support of the rest of the family.

He said nowadays, the tables had turned with a greater degree of individuality and independence of each family member. He said the change was not a negative one, but on the flip side, people had become more insecure, as every man was for himself. He added that it was the insecurity and the feeling of loneliness that drove people to shrines.

He said it was a psychological issue rather than a spiritual one.

"Despite problems and wars, it is necessary to stay together"

By Nidal Abrouk - Magharebia, U.S.A.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Tunis/Carthage: The 43rd International Carthage Festival opened Saturday (July 14th) at the historic Carthage Theatre in Tunisia.

The opening event, "Voices from Tunisia", saw the participation of 270 dancers, poets and singers, as well as shows of traditional Tunisian dress and heritage from north to south.

The three-hour presentation included seven musical shows, ranging from modern lyrical rhythms, composition and Sufi music to music of the islands, interspersed with poetry readings that linked the various performances together.

"It is a reflection of all Tunisian musical dialects, in addition to displays of traditional dress and horsemanship," said Raja Farhat, the show's producer and director of the International Carthage Festival.

"Voices from Tunisia is an expression of the interconnection between the Tunisian regions and the will to live," Farhat added.

"The presentation is a sense of the fulfilment of all voices of Tunisia that sang in the past," Tunisian artist Zohra Lajnef told Magharebia. "And it is a return to Tunisian heritage in women's and men’s singing and Sufi songs. It is an excerpt of Tunisian identity in a diverse performance."

The decor reflected this artistic purity of origin, as resplendent traditional textiles were used to drape the theatre stage and its sides, recalling joyous festivities and taking observers back to the atmosphere which inspired these musical genres.

Among the groups taking part were Issawa, Stambali, Salamiya Tunis, the Qadiriya from Gafsa, Dahmani Horseman, Malouf Testour and El-Hmarna from Gabes. Some musical instruments were used, such as the kassbah and gambari, to accompany the Stambali and Bousaidia dance show, with its vibrant folkloric spirit.

Popular poets such as Khalifa al-Darida had a significant presence, connecting one show with the next and enriching the performances with their rural experiences. Ideas of identity and nation were celebrated in the poetic words of epic novel El-Hilaliyah and the conflict against Abou Zayd and its re-enactment in a horsemanship display on the theatre grounds.

Regarding this display, Tunisian actor Lutfi Addaziri said "The idea is based primarily on the story El-Hilaliyah. It is an opportunity the festival seized to focus on a main idea, which is: despite problems and wars, it is necessary to stay together."

These displays earned the public's approval. "The presentation won my admiration, especially since it enabled me to learn about Tunisian popular poetry," said Mounir Daouadi, following the presentation.

Zohra Lajnef said it was "a distinctive presentation. For the first time, the opening presentation was from throughout the republic. Likewise, the traditional Tunisian dress is outstanding."

Some found fault with the festival director however, in his reliance on simplicity in decor, the lighting and the speed with which one display moved to the next. It was not easy for those in attendance to understand the various historical stages and the entities to which the presentation was attempting re-enact.

The International Carthage Festival will host 45 performances in Tunisia through August 16th.

[picture: Tunisian popular singers perform "Des voix de la Tunisie" (Voices from Tunisia) during the opening of the Carthage International Festival, July 14th 2007 at the Roman Amphitheatre in Carthage, near Tunis. Photo by Getty Images]

‘Lets go to the Faqir’s feast’

By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan - Sunday, July 15, 2007

Thousands of people visited the shrine of Shah Inayat Qadiri on the second day of his three-day 281st urs (death anniversary).

Qadiri, whose real name was Hafiz Inayatullah was a sufi saint and mystic poet and is famous as the mentor of sufi poet Bulleh Shah. Qadiri was born in 1699 in Mozang and got his early education from his father Sher Muhammad.

Qadiri spent his life in Lahore and Kasur and adhered to the Qadiri order of Sufism.

He grew vegetables as a profession. His poetry was mostly in Persian and focused on mysticism. His major poetic works include Ghayatul Hawashi, Lataife Ghaibia, Islahul Amal and Dastorul Amal.

Qadiri died in 1735 and was buried at Mozang. Bulleh referred to his mentor as Shah Inayat. Much of Bulleh’s poetry is addressed to his spiritual guide.

Qaswar Abbas, a visitor to the urs, said he was a follower of Qadiri’s ideology. He said the saint struggled to propagate the message of love. He said Pakistan needs Sufism because it teachs contentment and love.

Mian Muhammad Hammad Qadiri, heir of the shrine, said that followers from across the country and abroad come to the shrine all year long “to quench their thirst of spiritual knowledge and peace”.

He said the various techniques for transferring peace to the people are qawali and dhamal.

[About the Qadiri Sufi Order: http://www.uga.edu/islam/sufismorders.html#Qadiri]

[picture: http://www.tourism.gov.pk/northern_areas.html]

A protector of the poor

MIL/ANI - International Reporter - New Delhi, India
Friday, July 13, 2007

Ajmer (Rajasthan): Security has been beefed up in and around Muslim shrine as worshippers gather in Ajmer to mark the 795th Urs death anniversary of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

Organisers said security has been stepped up as thousands of devotees, including hundreds from Pakistan and Bangladesh, have come to the city.

"As per my information gathered from the intelligence agencies, about 500 to 600 worshippers from Pakistan and also some from Bangladesh have come here. Keeping the recent incidence of terror attacks in mind, security in the area has been strengthened," said Ahmed Raza Najim (manager) of Dargah committee.

According to Ahmed Raza Najim, the six-day long Urs will begin either on July 15 or 16 depending upon the rising of moon.

Apart from heavy deployment of security, 15 closed circuit cameras have been fitted in the shrine to check any untoward incident.

Legend has it that in 1236 AD, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti had entered his cell to pray in seclusion for six days, at the end of which he died. Since then, the Sufi saint’s death anniversary is marked in a six-day long Urs every year.

Throughout the ceremony, devotional music and reciting from Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's own works and other Sufi saints are presented in traditional Qawwali style and in chorus.

The annual event culminates with readings from the holy Quran and special prayers.

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti was a great Sufi saint who was the harbinger of Islam in India. He is popularly known as Gharib Nawaz (protector of the poor) because he dedicated his entire life to the service of mankind.

[picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moinuddin_Chishti]

"Politics corrupts Religion and not vice versa"

By Matt Purple - CNSNews - Alexandria, VA, U.S.A.
Friday, July 13, 2007

Muslim Figures Condemn Violent Tactics of Islamists

A panel of Muslims leaders and filmmakers gathered at the Heritage Foundation Thursday to speak out against violent extremists whom they believe are corrupting Islam.

Muhammed Hisham Kabbani - chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America [ISCA] and the Sufi Muslim Council of Britain - and Hedieh Mirahmadi - a political advisor to the Sufi Muslim Council of Britain - condemned Islamic violence and warned of the consequences of allowing Islam and government to be intertwined.

"The Muslims today are mixing religion with politics," Kabbani said. "They are using religion for their own political advancement."

Contrary to many who advocate for separation of church and state, he contended that politics corrupts religion and not vice versa. He said Islam and politics were fundamentally incompatible and called on Muslim leaders to advise politicians rather than seeking to obtain power themselves.

"The real connection between God and [individuals] has to be complete and continuous," Kabbani said. "And politicians don't say the truth sometimes. Instead they use religion to get their agendas enacted."

Kabbani and Mirahmadi subscribe to the Sufism tradition of Islam.

Adherents say the tradition holds that knowledge and reason are necessary to achieve meaning and faith, although some scholars of Islam dispute the notion that Sufism is inherently moderate, citing the rhetoric of revered Sufi thinkers.

Kabbani disputed the notion that Muslims were called upon by their prophet, Mohammed, to engage in violent acts of jihad against non-Muslims, saying that true jihad was a personal and internal struggle for faith.

After the "war against the aggressors in Medina" was finished, he said, Mohammed declared that [the war] is finished. "We will build bridges with everyone. We will have good communities. We will have relationships with the Jews. We will have relationships with the Christians."

"Now we will have the greater jihad," Kabbani added. "And the greater jihad is against the self."

Also on the panel were Martyn Burke, director of the documentary film "Islam vs. the Islamists," and producers Alex Alexiev and Frank Gaffney, both from the Center for Security Policy. The movie, which showcases Muslims with moderate views and the attacks they have faced from fundamentalists, was shown prior to the panel discussion.

[picture from http://islamicsupremecouncil.org/country_reports/World_Tour_2001/abouttour.htm]

A timeless yet timely culture of peace

By Sana Aftab Khan - UN Chronicle - New York,NY,USA
Thursday, July 12, 2007

Rumi was celebrated with great enthusiasm by the United Nations on 26 June 2007.

The event, held at UN Headquarters in New York on the occasion of his 800th birthday, was jointly organized by the Permanent Missions of Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey-countries that revere Rumi as a saint, poet, philosopher and cultural treasure.

Maulana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, known in the West simply as Rumi and deeply admired for his poetry and philosophy, was born in the region of Balkh, which is now Afghanistan, but lived in the Khorasani region of Persia.

He died in the Turkish region of Konya, leaving behind a rich body of work in Persian and sowing the seeds for the tremendous following he gained after his death in areas far beyond the Asia Minor.

The marvel of this Asian poet is that his work remains relevant to our world today, even though he lived eight centuries ago. This is perhaps most evident in the religious culture emerging among today's youth, who are increasingly drawn to spiritual movements, such as a secular humanism based on Rumi's philosophy.

As a historical figure, Rumi has come to embody "universality", although he belonged to the Asia Minor region, and his way of thinking, as documented in his poetry and retold through generations of followers, displays interconnectedness and universal unity.

The commemoration began with a panel discussion featuring renowned academics and representatives such as Prof. James Morris, Chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter's Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, and Dr. Hossein Nasr, Chairman of George Washington University's Islamic Institute, along with other Rumi specialists of Persian, Afghani, and Turkish background, who highlighted the relevance of Rumi's work to today's world.

The panel discussion was followed by recitation, with translation, of some of Rumi's most famous poetry, a musical performance, and a "Sama" performance by 'whirling dervishes'.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa were present during the cultural performances, with Mr. Ban making official remarks regarding the relevance of Maulana Rumi to present-day issues and in motivating the work of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

While some Rumi specialists discussed how Rumi's words revealed an undeniable relevance to current international politics and regional sociocultural debates, others highlighted how he was remarkably universal and yet keenly particular in his self-exploration, and how his work foreshadowed the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Dr. Nasr pointed out that even though Rumi's work is often treated as universally applicable, making him widely perceived as beyond national and ethnic boundaries, it remained solidly rooted in Islamic mystical thought, as evident in the traditional title "Maulana" and references to his divine being in accordance with Islam.

The duality of Rumi's poetry, understood as firmly grounded in Islamic thought but simultaneously seen as universal by diverse societies, is proof of the possibility of strong religious values and secularism coexisting harmoniously. The conflicting cultural, political and religious divisions in today's world promise to be reconciled through an open communication, similar to the kind of approach applied by Rumi, focusing on tolerance, compassion, commonality and beauty in diversity.

While the Secretary-General acknowledged that "Rumi's poetry is timeless", he pointed out that "its celebration at the United Nations is extremely timely", noting that it underscored the Organization's efforts to promote a culture of peace through the Alliance of Civilizations and to bridge divides and promote understanding.

Indeed, Rumi's celebration of love for humanity, life, the divine and universality offers solutions to problems we continue to struggle with even today.

[related article: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=ban+ki]

Poetry talks to our emotions

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Mesnevi fully translated into Turkish centuries on
One of the most important works of 13th century Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, "Mesnevi" is now available in Turkish in its entirety, around eight centuries after it was first written in its original Persian.

The six-volume book, in which Mevlana recounts his views of Sufism in the form of stories connected to each other over 25,618 stanzas, was written in the prosodic style of "aruz" -- an Ottoman poetic meter taken from Persian.

The voluminous book took 10 years for Ahmet Metin Şahin to translate into Turkish, reported the Anatolia news agency. Şahin, who began the project in 1996, told Anatolia that although there were numerous attempts to translate Mevlana's verses into Turkish, none of them were ever completed.

"Many poets attempted to translate 'Mesnevi' into Turkish in aruz style but some of them translated only half of one volume, some translated one volume, and some only translated 1,000 verses. But I persisted, didn't give up, and translated the entire Mesnevi into Turkish in aruz style," he said.

"The first such attempt was made in 1730 by Süleyman Nahifi during the Tulip Era [of the Ottoman Empire]. Some 276 years later I have become the one to complete the translation."

Şahin, underlining the difficulties in translating the epic tome, said he had to go over his translation numerous times to make the necessary corrections. "While I was working on my translations I reviewed the previous translations as well.

One verse can be translated to give varied meanings by various translators. So whoever goes over all versions has the opportunity to grasp the meaning of that verse better. I made use of that opportunity," he added.

Explaining that since "Mesnevi" is actually a poetic work, Şahin said translations in prose style cannot always be given the same meaning and sense. "One aspect of poetry is that it ... attracts the attention of people and talks to their emotions... I wanted people to enjoy 'Mesnevi'," he said.

The Turkish translation of "Mesnevi" was published this year by Kaynak Kültür Publishing House in three volumes; its second edition will be launched next week.

[Link to the translation http://ailem.zaman.com.tr/?bl=39&hn=5408]

"Gel, Gel, ne olursan ol, gel!"

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

"Gel, Gel, ne olursan ol, gel!
İster kâfir, ister mecûsî, ister puta tapan ol, gel!

Bizim dergâhımız ümitsizlik dergâhı değildir.
Yüz kere tövbeni bozmuş olsan da yine gel!"

Hz. Mevlana

İstanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square over the weekend became the scene for an open-air sema (whirling dervish) ritual as part of cultural events around Turkey and on numerous spots around the world marking UNESCO's Year of Mevlana. 2007 marks to 800th anniversary of the birth of Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi.

The first of the open-air sema performances, held on Saturday, drew around 2,000 spectators, most of them foreign tourists, the organizers said in a written statement on Monday.

The show, organized by the Greater İstanbul Municipality's culture enterprise Kültür A.Ş., will continue to be staged at various squares of İstanbul throughout summer.

The upcoming performances, which will be held on Saturdays through Aug. 25, are scheduled to take place in the squares of such thoroughfares as Eyüp, Bakır-köy, Taksim, Kadıköy and Beşiktaş. Admission to all events is free of charge.

[picture from: http://www.mevlanayili.gov.tr/Default.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFF670AAAC19264C5A8BB24141ED0709C75]

Spreading Rumors

By Kerry Day - Style Weekly -Richmond, VA, U.S.A.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

A collective art show at Sol Cooper Gallery in Petersburg is a lot like a game of telephone, but with a palette.

Stars burn clear
all night till dawn

Do that yourself, and a spring
will rise in the dark with water
your deepest thirst is for.

— Rumi

These words, written nearly 800 years ago, form the catalyst for “Lineage,” an exhibition at the Sol Cooper Gallery in Petersburg. The exhibit, opening July 13, features the work of 13 artists — painters, photographers, sculptors, a printmaker and a filmmaker — who created their pieces sequentially, basing their work on the work that came before it.

The idea originated while contemplating the evolution of a rumor, says gallery owner and painter Bobby Lynch. The concept moved into the “visual” realm, and the impetus for the exhibit took root: an artistic version of the game telephone.

For the first piece, Lynch derived inspiration from the Rumi poem. A thought-provoking, figurative work, the painting draws the viewer into the introspective posture of a woman seated in the morning light.

This he passed on to prompt the next artist, continuing the conversation.

The exhibit took 14 weeks to complete. Lynch delivered each finished piece to the subsequent artist, and artists were then given one week to develop their own piece. Outside of the artwork that came directly before, no artist was told of the other pieces or of the original poetry.

The result is quite extraordinary: a string of images that stretches from figurative, to landscape to abstract to textural and back again.

“If I had to describe the relationship and what surprised me the most is that there are two shows,” Lynch says. “There are the images — the things one sees hanging on the wall — and then there are the pieces between the pieces, the places where they intersect. To me, that’s the real show.”

This added dimension makes the exhibit particularly compelling. It draws viewers into the visual dialogue, like a conversation, and offers an opportunity to participate in its progression.

“Your emotional narrative is threading itself throughout,” he says, “moving it along.” The momentum captures images of bodies, bridges, rivers, arches, blood, hills, light, dark, trains, trestles, solitude and self. The recurrence of certain elements often is inexplicable. The color palette used in the initial painting, a blend of ochre, sienna, olive, orange and rust, re-emerges throughout the series — even though there are stretches of black and white in between. This occurs, too, with certain shapes, the human form, light and water.

Given that the first painting offers no concrete connection to water, but the poem has this imagery at its core, Lynch asks, “Are we just passing on images?”

The sound of his words travel along the 50-foot-long pine floors and floating toward the exposed ceiling trusses. “Or are we passing on an aura?” he continues.

“How much is being carried within the piece that we don’t see?”

Another unintended benefit has arisen for the artists themselves. Rather than working within the framework of their own particular collection, they’ve been asked to step outside their comfort zone and play in different media. According to Lynch, nearly all of the artists have remarked on the liberating nature of this experiment.

“The fact that there is no historical intention from piece to piece to piece is really a beautiful thing,” says Lynch. “How many times in life do you get to do that?”

“Lineage” opens at the Sol Cooper Gallery in Petersburg Friday, July 13, with a reception, 7-9 p.m. The show runs through Sept. 7. 306 N. Sycamore St. 240-6859.

Art news from Tehran

RM/HG END MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Gorgan to host “Step by Step to Meet God” festival
The “Step by Step to Meet God” international festival, which will focus on the character of Molana Rumi, is to be held in October in the northern Iranian city of Gorgan.

Scholars from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, and probably Turkey and Pakistan will be attending the literary festival to discuss the mystical character of Rumi.

Works of Iran’s monotheistic religions poster exhibit heading to Poland
The top works of the first Monotheistic Religions World Poster Exhibition will go on display at the Turlej Gallery in Krakow, Poland in a show that opens on July 19.

The show was held at Tehran’s Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum last year.

The second Monotheistic Religions World Poster Exhibition will focus on works produced this year. Those interested in participating should submit their works to the secretariat of the museum by September 27.

Bangladesh to host “Women and Resistance” photo exhibit
The Palestine Museum of Contemporary Art, the Saba Art and Cultural Institute, and the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense Photographers Society are organizing a photo exhibit entitled “Women and Resistance”, which is to be held in Bangladesh in the near future.

The exhibit will feature 100 photos by prominent Iranian photographers depicting the activities of women in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, especially their dedication and sacrifice.

Saffarzadeh to translate Nahj-ul-Balaghah into Persian and English
Poet and translator Tahereh Saffarzadeh plans to translate the Nahj-ul-Balaghah of Imam Ali (AS) into Persian and English.

She said here on Monday that the letters and discourses in the book are very deep, adding, “I would like to make the contents of the book accessible to foreign readers since there is no precise translation of the book into the English language.”

[picture: Golestan (Rose Garden) Palace
http://www.persia.org/imagemap/tehran.html]

Khawaja Moinuddeen Chisty' Urs begins

The Times of India - India

Monday, July 9, 2007

Ajmer: The annual flag ceremony, which will mark the beginning of the 795th Urs death anniversary of Sufi Saint Khawaja Moinuddeen Chisty also known as 'Garib Nawaj', will take place in Ajmer on July 11 [today].

The six-day long Urs, which will begin either on July 15 or 16 according to the rising of moon, will be attended by thousands of devotees, said Ahmed Raza Najim (manager) of Dargah committee.

Three temporary shelters - nasagar , kayad and transport nagar - have been set up near shrine for devotees, District Magistrate Naveen Mahajan said. Administrative camps will be set up at 'Motikatala' and 'Tripoli' from July 15 and 12 medical dispensaries will work round the clock, Mahajan said.

The city has been divided into eight zones for the security purposes and more than 2500 police personnels have been deployed under the supervision of 16 ASPs, 32 DSPs.

About 17 CCTV cameras have been fixed for surveillance in the area, said the superintendent of police S. Sengathir.

[picture from: http://www.nikkistravel.com/rajasthan/ajmer-pushkar.html]

Whirling tires the body, but rests the spirit

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Monday, July 9, 2007

Konya: The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Konya Turkish Sufi Music Ensemble, one of the two official whirling dervish groups in Turkey, will break a record with the number of ceremonies they will have put on by the end of this year.

2007 was declared the Year of Mevlana by UNESCO, in honor of the 800th anniversary of the birth of 13th century Sufi saint Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, with numerous celebrations -- including sema (the whirling dervish ceremony) performances -- taking place across Turkey and beyond.

Director of the ensemble Ömer Faruk Belviranlı said that their 44-person ensemble has 14 whirling dervishes and for large events they were helped by other well-trained whirling dervish friends. He said that the youngest and least experienced member of the group had been whirling for 25 years.

They have been invited to a great many events both at home and around the world, he said, and added that the ensemble performed whirling ceremonies in hundreds of world cities. He noted that the interest in Turkish Sufi music and whirling was increasing worldwide and said the number of their sema performances had risen accordingly.

"The number of whirling ceremonies we put on last year in and outside the country was about 250. The number will be around 500 this year; twice as many as before. Also, last year between Dec. 1 and 17 we put on 27 whirling ceremonies as part of the commemoration ceremonies organized in honor of Mevlana Rumi. This year we will put on 36 ceremonies between the same dates," he said, noting that he expected the exposure generated by the Year of Mevlana to keep interest in sema elevated beyond 2007.

He also emphasized that whirling is a very tiring activity and performing it 500 times a year is exhausting, however he added everyone in the ensemble was happy it would be a world record at the end of the year: "Whirling tires the body, but rests the spirit. So this busy schedule will not be hard on our whirling friends.

But if this schedule were that of another field, nobody would be able to withstand this tempo."

*Every Man has a Dream*

By Huda al-Kibsi - Yemen Observer - Sana'a, Yemen

Friday, July 6, 2007

The story of Joseph’s dream that the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him, a story related both in the Quran and in the Bible, is depicted by German artist Berno Heitmann in his painting of 11 planets and the sun and moon bending down to the land.

The painting is one of 30 paintings on display in an exhibition titled Every Man Has a Dream at the Bab al-Yemen Gallery in Sana’a. And this painting, which has meaning for both Muslims and Christians, suggests that Heitmann is perhaps seeking with his work to visually create harmony between the two religions.

“I painted eleven stars, the sun and the moon in this painting, which is a story about Joseph and his achieved dream,” said Heitmann. “The story is found in the Quran as it exists in the Bible, like other stories.”

Heitmann read the Quran in the German language for three weeks, seeking the commonalities between the Quran and the Bible. Heitmann is a Christian, whose holy book is the Bible. He tried to translate a number of concepts from Quranic verses in his paintings, using a language of painting and lines.

Heitmann’s paintings were inspired by stories of prophets, such as Joseph, and various religious wisdoms. He added lines to his paintings, both in Arabic and in English.

“You cannot serve both God and money,” said Heitmann on one of his paintings, taking a quote from Caesar. Heitmann studied Arabic calligraphy, including Kufic, Diwani and Persian handwritings. “I think Arabic calligraphies are very beautiful,” he said. “Though I write in English, I think Arabic is more beautiful and could make the painting more beautiful and effective.”

“Many people are asking me why am I writing on my paintings, but I am telling them that this is my own style.”

Dr. Amnah al-Nasiri, an artist, expressed surprise at what she described as Sufism philosophy included in Heitmann’s paintings. “Such Sufism usually stems from the religious culture of the artist, whatever this religion is,” she said. “Either Islam, Judaism or Christianity, they all could tell religious ideas.”

Al-Nasiri believes that Heitmann lives a state of spiritual purity, due to his living in Yemeni places and regions like Hajja, where he works. This state enables him to ponder on the relationship between human beings and God, she said. Heitmann tends to use very pure and simple colors, said al-Nasiri.

Born in Hamburg in 1969, Heitmann is a German lawyer. However, he now works as a representative for a non-governmental organization in Yemen. He has lived in Hajja for the past year.

[picture: "One cannot serve both God and money" one of the paintings on show ]

“Sufi Music and Poetry” in Madrid

SB/MA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Madrid to host Sufi music and poetry workshops
A four-day workshop on the works and life of Rumi, the celebrated 13th century Persian Sufi mystic and poet, entitled “Sufi Music and Poetry” will be held at the la Casa Encendida Center in Madrid commencing on July 17.

During the first three days Rumi’s poetry will be reviewed. On the fourth day the European-based Iranian musicians Javid Afsari-Rad, Behnam Samani and Reza Samani will be performing musical works on the theme of Rumi.

Spanish translator of Persian literary works Clara Janes Nadel and Iranian scholar Ahmad Taheri will be reviewing Rumi’s biography and analyzing the symbols and terminologies used in the Divan of Shams, the Masnavi and other works.

Taheri, the Spanish-based linguist and translator, mentioned that the workshop is the first significant project to be undertaken by a Spanish institute in commemoration of the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian poet.

"One and the Same"

MNA - Tehran Iran

Saturday, July 7, 2007

West Azarbaijan is to host the first film festival on Shams ad-Din of Tabriz in the near future.

Shams was an Iranian Sufi mystic born in the city of Tabriz. He initiated Molana Rumi into Islamic mysticism.

Sponsored by the provincial Department of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Cinematic affairs, the festival aims to present Khoy as the place where the master grew up.

“Perhaps, it is better if some of our national festivals are held in the provinces. For example various sections of the Fajr Film Festival took place in different parts of Iran. This reflects the rights of the people.” said Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Mohammadreza Jafari-Jelveh.

Jafari-Jelveh did not refer to the exact timing of the festival.

Shams Tabriz is immortalized in Rumi’s collection of poetry named the “Divan of Shams ad-Din of Tabriz”. Shams lived together with Rumi in Konya for several years.

Rumi’s love for Shams and his bereavement at his death found expression in an outpouring of music, dance, and lyrical poems. Rumi himself left Konya and went out searching for Shams, journeying as far as Damascus before realizing that Shams and himself were, in fact, "one and the same".

[picture: Shams of Tabriz as portrayed in a 1500 painting in a page of a copy of Rumi's poem dedicated to Shams. BNF Paris.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwan-e_Shams-e_Tabriz-i]

A message from H.M. Mohammed VI

[from the French language press]:

La ville mythique et mystique de Fès a abrité du 26 au 29 juin le forum mondial des adeptes de la Tijania, une confrérie de l'Islam fondée par Cheik Sidi Ahmed Tijane.

Le Potentiel, Kinshasa, Congo - 6 juillet 2007 - par Adrien Wayi Lewy

The mythical and mystical city of Fez, Morocco, sheltered from June 26th to June 29th the world forum of the followers of Tijaniya, a Brotherhood of Islam named after Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (1737-1815 CE)

In a message, read by the Moroccan Minister for the Islamic Affairs, Sidi Ahmed Taoufiq, His Majesty the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, reaffirmed the vocation of his country to be a land of peace.

[picture: an official portrait of H.M. Mohammed VI from: www.ambasciatadelmarocco.it/marocco/il_re.htm]

A spiritual journey

By Deborah Caldwell - Belief Net - New York, U.S.A.

Friday, July 6, 2007

He's given up religion in favor of spirituality and he's embraced Sufism, says Hana Ali of her father Muhammad Ali [once known as Cassius Clay].

What is your father's most important spiritual goal?
All he's ever done and even more so now than before, is try to do good, be kind to people, to lead a clean moral life, and most of all help people in need.

His spiritual journey comes back to loving people. He loves his fans and people in general, so it comes more naturally to him than most people. He really does believe he's working for God-being kind to people, having time for people.

He gets up every day and does his fan mail. He goes around the office and looks for stuff to do. People leave messages for him with their phone number included, and he'll have his office call them back. He gets hung up on a lot.

Really?
Oh yeah. When I was 13 or 14 and we'd come to be with him for the summer and we'd go through the phone books, my dad would call people and say, "This is Muhammad Ali." And just go down the list.

He's really happy when he gets a number, because he loves surprising people. Because no one expects him to actually call.

So he just dials them up?
Sometimes people talk to him, but nine times out of 10 he gets hung up on. Other times he gets voice mail messages, so he leaves a message saying "Hi, I'm Muhammad Ali, and I got your message."

Even when we're in a car driving, my dad will stick his face in the window and look at people in other cars. It's kind of dangerous on the freeway because they get excited. It's like having a kid in the car, the speed up-slow down game.

It gives him a sense of contentment and enjoyment.

All of that contributes to his spiritual growth. He's so grounded, even though he's had so much fame and love and admiration. He says it's constant work, especially when you've got the world at your feet.

How does your dad practice Islam-does he pray five times a day?
My dad feels guilty when he doesn't get to pray five times a day. Sometimes it's more difficult for him to actually get down and pray. When the Parkinson's accelerated, he stopped getting up at 5 a.m. to pray.

But he used to?
Oh, yeah. Are you kidding? He never missed prayer. And if he did, he felt guilty about it. He probably hasn't actually done the formal prayer for a few years regularly-five times a day. He just takes moments out when he sits in his chair and prays. And he reads constantly.

His life is like a prayer. God is constantly on his mind. It's not in a preachy way. It's subtle, but you feel like you're in the presence of angels around him--especially now because he's so patient.
Is he able to attend a mosque?
Yes, he does go to the mosque, but not regularly. He goes to the one in Chicago when he can. And there's a small mosque about 20 minutes away. The only problem is it's so crowded, and that's hard for him. And he won't turn anyone away.

How did your dad come to embrace Sufi Islam, and what attracts him to it?
My father has a collection of books by a man named Hazrat Inayat Khan. They're Sufi teachings. He read them front to cover. They're old and yellow and the pages are torn. They're amazing. He always says they're the best books in the world.


(...)

[picture: Hana Yasmeen Ali, 28, is the third-youngest of Muhammad Ali's nine children.]

What is really required is the revival of Sufism

By Philip Blond and Adrian Pabst - International Herald Tribune - Paris, France
Friday, July 6, 2007

London: The attempted bombings in London and the attack on Glasgow Airport last week underscore the continued and long-term Islamic terror threat that Britain and the world is facing.

To date, all of those detained are highly educated foreign-born medical staff.

Far from being affronted by this incursion, young British Muslims are increasingly likely to support domestic jihad. The radicalization of British Muslim youth proceeds apace. According to a recent poll by Populus, growing numbers of Muslims aged 16-30 subscribe to extreme versions of Islam, and almost 40 percent want to live under Shariah law.

Britain faces the prospect of a whole new generation of young people embracing extremism and religious fanaticism.

So far, the government has refrained from introducing more Draconian legislation. Instead, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his ministerial colleagues have promised to reinforce the government's campaign "to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim community."

However, like Tony Blair's sterile appeal to moderate, mainstream Islam, this strategy is bound to fail because of two fatal assumptions. First, that every culture and every religion wants to become like the secular West. Second, resistance to Western secularization is fueled by false grievances and as such can be legitimately ignored.

In practice, this sort of approach marginalizes traditional Islam in favor of an ersatz "progressive" version that robs it of all its distinctive character and vision. The litmus test for integration is whether Muslims are willing to be like "us." Unsurprisingly, many young Muslims are increasingly alienated by an aggressively secular culture that enforces liberal transgression of moral norms and taboos.

Crucially, current policies are not working because they fail to address the real cause of radicalization and fanaticism. Contemporary Islamic violence is religious in nature. Its origin lies in Islamic scripture and the destruction of the traditional medieval schools that dictated its interpretation.

The Koran contains clear and lethal injunctions against apostates, idolaters and those who challenge Muslim territorial ascendancy. While the sacred texts do sanctify violence - they also codify it, limiting its range and application.

Thus, there is no legitimation in classical Islam for suicide bombing or the wanton slaughter of innocents.

That said, warfare and a consequent defense and extension of Islam was both a religious duty and a scriptural requirement, albeit one framed by chivalry and relative restraint.
Moreover, unlike the claims of contemporary fundamentalists, there never really was a unified political/religious authority in Islam. On the contrary, the role of religious scholars (the ulama) was to limit the power of the caliphs.

And since there were four traditional schools of religious interpretation, which themselves varied according to time and location, what constituted a proper Islamic practice varied according to local norms and customs. As such traditional Islam prohibits the very totalitarian state Al Qaeda seeks to impose.

For example, if Islam recovers the traditional practice of ijtihad, a process of textual reinterpretation that replaces the scriptural literalism of the fundamentalists with a more medieval allegorical reading of the Koran, this would enable the Muslim faithful to distinguish between immutable God-given laws and mutable human interpretations.

It is worth stating all of this because the only force that can challenge Islamic terrorism is not liberal progressivism but Islam itself. Those who have abandoned terrorism did so not as a result of secular injunctions or indeed horror at what they were doing. Rather, it was the realization that the variant of Islam they were killing for was itself Western, modern and secular.

The great innovators of Islamic fundamentalism - Sayyid Qutb and Maulana Maududi - were deeply influenced by pagan Nazi literature and its supremacist critiques of modern life and culture. Demonstration of the essentially blasphemous nature of contemporary fundamentalism is crucial for the deprogramming of its adherents.

However, the mere rebirth of classical Islam is not enough. Islam in both its Sunni and Shiite derivations suffers from an absolutist unmediated relation to God. Since faith is separated from reason and nature it becomes a self-authenticating phenomenon that invalidates all other perspectives.

What is really required is the revival of Sufism - a practice previously common to all forms of the faith and one that stresses the mystical unknowable nature of God and His transcendence of all forms of human knowledge.

Such a recognition deprives Islamic fundamentalism of its primary motivating principle - that it knows the will of God and is therefore justified in enforcing it upon the earth.

A renewal of Sufism could help Islam to broaden its understanding of authority beyond rulers and the ulama to include civil society. This would also restore the consensus of the community (ijma). And thereby empower Muslim society to challenge the fundamentalist assertions of its heretical preachers with reasoned belief.

Given that we are losing the battle of hearts and minds, we would be well advised to chart a different path. By encouraging an Islamic renaissance and reviving traditions that the fundamentalists have so violently suppressed, Muslim youth might be diverted from their present course.

Phillip Blond is a senior lecturer in philosophy and religion at the University of Cumbria, Adrian Pabst is a lecturer in theology at the University of Nottingham.

Sufism still holds sway in Doda

By Renu Bhran & Syed Junaid Hashmi - Counter Currents - India

Friday, July 6, 2007

"When I come to Love, I am ashamed of all that I have ever said Love"

Sufism (tasawwuf) a spiritual philosophy of Islam, the essence of which is to establish a direct relationship with Allah by purifying the soul, has been flourishing among the hills of district Doda [Jammu & Kashmir] since long.

Regarded as most backward district of the country, Doda has traditionally been a place where religion has dominated the discourse and knitted people of different faiths together.

One may argue that massacres created fissures between communities and subsequent creation of Village Defence Committees (VDC's) widened the gulf yet one has to agree that secularism continues to blossom.

Ask people in district Doda, they would tell you that being an area where Sufism has been thriving from centuries, possibility of communities getting engaged in religious, regional, racist and gender conflicts are meager. Despite changing times, Sufism continues to enjoy supremacy in district Doda.

Historical manuscripts written mostly in Persian maintain that Sufism flourished in district Doda during the 15 century when Sufi saints from various parts in India started reaching reached Doda.

However, tasawwuf gained prominence with the arrival of Hazrat Shah Mohammed Farid-ud-Din Baghdadi (RA) and his two sons Hazrat Shah Asrar-ud-din (RA) and Hazrat Shah Akhyar-ud-din (RA) during the 17th century. These revered saints propagated Islam and value based education among the people of all religions, castes and creeds.

Researchers maintain that before Hazrat Shah Mohammed Farid-ud-Din Baghdadi (RA) arrived in district Doda, the region had already been visited by some other great Sufi saints which included Hazrat Shah Hamdan (RA), Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (RA) and Hazrat Zain-ul-deen Rishi (RA).

These revered saints taught people basics of Islam and pleaded with them to come out of the darkness of illiteracy and ritualism. These revered saints propagated love and brotherhood. They taught tawhid or monotheism, i.e. oneness of Allah, asked people to follow teachings of Holy Quran and the Hadith.

Historical manuscripts are witness to the fact that Sufis were able to convert large numbers of people to Islam by preaching the essence of Islam and Sufism. They taught love, brotherhood and equality.

Many of these Sufi preachers who came to district Doda and propagated Islam have a earned a distinct place for themselves across the world. Their tombs are still respected as holy places, with people from all walks of life visiting and praying for earthly prosperity and spiritual salvation. Legends about the miracles performed by the Sufi saints, who are believed to have been possession of miraculous powers, continue to be a part of social set-up in district Doda.

Interestingly one can watch names of different Sufi saints inscribed on the bodies of buses, trucks, matadors and private cars to ensure safe journeys.

Of the many revered saints, Sheikh Zain-ud-din (RA) needs a special mention. Born in a royal family of Kishtwar, he was the disciple of highly revered saint Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (RA). According to a popular legend, when Sheikh Zain-ud-din (RA) was a child, he fell severely ill. When the chances of his recovery started thinning, his mother began crying bitterly and started praying to the Almighty to save his son.

It is believed that a man, who is believed to have been an angel, appeared before the mother of the boy. He asked her about her grief. Mother of Sheikh Zain-ud-din (RA) narrated the entire story and asked him, if he could help her. The man promised to help the aggrieved mother but he kept a stipulation that if her son recovers well in time, she along with her son would start propagating teachings of Islam.

She agreed and promised. The man left but not before telling her not to forget her promise. But when he recovered, his mother forgot the promise she had made with that man. When the condition started deteriorating, she began remembering her promise. Caught in a dilemma, she reached Kashmir. With the help few people, she reached to the place where Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (RA) had been living.

When she saw him, she was stunned to find that he was the same man with whom she had made a promise. It is believed that she pleaded with the revered saint to forgive her for having forgotten her promise. Sheikh Sahib forgave her and she along with her son began preaching Islam. This is how Sheikh Zain-ud-din (RA) entered Islam and began propagating it among people of different faiths.

He became a disciple of Hazrat Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (RA) who sent him to Ashmuqam, a village located in Anantnag district of South Kashmir. He began teaching Islamic tenants to the people in that area. Soon his name gained prominence all over the state and people started visiting him from various parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

The other Sufi saint who is highly revered across the state is Hazrat Syed Farid-uddin-Qadri (RA) popularly known as Shah Saheb. His shrine is located in the midst of Kishtwar town.

Historical records maintain that Syed Muhammad Farid-uddin Bagdadi (RA) was born in the family of Syed Mustafa, a descendant of Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA) of Baghdad, in the year 1689. Although historians have a conflict over the date of birth of Shah Saheb (RA) but according to noted writer, scholar and intellectual Wali Mohammed Aseer (Kishtwari), when Shah Saheb came to Kishtwar in the year 1664, he was 75 year old.

"After completion of his studies, he set out on an extensive tour, offered pilgrimage at Mecca. During the pilgrimage, he met Sheikh Jalal Uddin Al-Maghribi (RA) in Mecca and Sheikh Mohi-uddin-Qadri (RA) in Egypt," added Aseer.

He maintained that thereafter Shah Saheb (RA) reached Sindh where from he traveled towards Agra. "From Agra, Shah Saheb (RA) in 1664 reached Kishtwar which was being ruled by Raja Jai Singh; when he reached Kishtwar, he was accompanied by his followers namely Dervish Muhammad, Shah Abdal, Syed Baha Uddin Saani and Yar Muhammad," added the noted litterateur.

According to "Focus on Jammu and Kashmir" written by Aseer Kishtwari, Shah Saheb (RA) began propagating Islam. The book says that Shah Saheb built a monastery and busied whole heartily in the service and propagation of Islam.

After the death of Raja Jai Singh, his son Kirat Singh succeeded him, embraced Islam and assumed name of Saadat-yar Khan. Seeing their King turning to Islam, a large number of his subjects followed their King and turned to Islam.

According to a popular legend, Shah Saheb reached Kishtwar via Deeng-batal. At Deeng-batal, a daughter of the landlord was greatly impressed by the piety of the sage and married him and assumed the name Roshan-dil. Shah Saheb (RA) stayed there for seven days [years?].

He consummate his marriage for the third time with the daughter of Shah Noor Ali, a convert who was at that time a lumberdar of village Nagri of Doda town. Shah Saheb (RA) gave her the name Mai Malahat. From there he traveled went to Bhandar-kot and thereafter reached Kishtwar.

According to a popular legend, when a blind man came and prayed for the eyesight. Shah Saheb told him that it is nice to pray both for eye-sight and subjugation. Legend says that Shah Saheb touched his face with his hand and the man not only received the eyesight but insight also.

It is also believed that once upon a time, when the King approached him for stopping the earthquake, he prayed to the Almighty and the earthquake subsided.

Shah Saheb had three children. Syed Anwar Uddin who died at an age of two and a half years; Syed Akhyar-ud-din (RA) and Syed Asrar-uddin (RA) were saints bestowed with revelations and miracles. Syed Asrar-uddin was a born saint and exhibited wondrous revelations at an early age which his father Shah Saheb (RA) did not approve of.

One day he gave him a bowl full of water and asked him to drink water from it. The son declined. He reiterated by saying "This is your father's order". Hazrat Asrar-uddin (RA) held the cup, covered his head with a sheet and drank it. He died soon after.

His other son Hazrat Akhyar-uddin proceeded to Gurdaspur, under the orders of his father to be admitted as a follower by Syed Badar-Uddin Sa'mani. He returned to Kashmir after the death of his father and stayed at the Shrine of Sultan-Ul-Arifeen Sheikh Hamza (RA) for seven years and died there.

His shrine stands in the center of Kishtwar town, while Syed Asrar-uddin's tomb is on the other side of the town facing Chowgan. Syed Akhyar-uddin (RA) has been buried in the outer adjoining room of the Shrine.

These Sufis and saints have left yet their shrines continue to hold a significant place in the hearts of the people. These shrines have kept the spirit of communal harmony alive. Shah Saheb used to say "The true seeker should tread the highway of love fearlessly and patiently."

"If one cannot drink up the entire ocean One can drink to one's limit"

[Official web site of District Doda: http://www.doda.gov.in/]

[picture from: http://www.indnav.com/servlet/Browse?mt=goToName&name=Kishtwar]

A challenging work

By Abdul-Rehman Malik - Alt Muslim - U.S.A.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Composed by a famous convert to Orthodox Christianity, inspired by a Sufi sage, commissioned by the future head of the Church of England and performed in a Roman Catholic cathedral, The Beautiful Names - a meditation on the 99 names of Allah was performed [on June 19th] by theBBC Symphony Orchestra and sung in impeccable Arabic by the BBC Symphony Chorus with tenorJohn Mark Ainsley.

The Beautiful Names is a challenging work. It doesn't easily fall on the ear and it doesn't immediately make the listener feel comfortable. It demands that we be involved, pay attention to each name as it is recited and to notice that no two Names are the same in their musical quality.

As Tavener himself points out, there is almost no repetition in the entire work. It is a contemporary piece that has a traditional sensibility: it requires patience and needs to be experienced at its own pace - slowly as it unfolds. "The Beautiful Names came to me as a vision. I contemplated the meaning of each of the Names as well as the sacred sound of the Arabic, and the music appeared to me spontaneously, neither chaotic nor random," says Tavener.

The 99 names are divided into nine groups with the first eight being proceeded by the "magisterial cries of Allah." In the first part, for instance, each name is sung by the tenor - a robust performance by John Mark Ainsley - and echoed by half the choir, who are quickly followed by the other half. The meaning of each name is mirrored in the music, the result of a meditation that is precisely crafted.

Taken from the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the 99 names or attributes of God are a mainstay of Muslim devotion. They are committed to memory at an early age, chanted and sung. Scholars of classical Islam, like Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, wrote treatises exploring the spiritual power and significance of these attributes. They are a means to come to terms with the vast ineffability of the Divine.

The Names often appear together in the text as sets of opposites - as ying-yang pairings: Al-Muhyi, The Giver of Life is followed by Al Mumit, The Taker of Life. God is at once Al-Tawwab, The Ever Relenting and Al-Muntaqim, The Avenger.

Tavener beautifully captures this sacred poetry. Al-Ghaffar (He who is full of forgiveness) is sung in a plaintive tone, announced with gentleness by the tenor, echoed sweetly by the choir. It is followed by Al-Qahhar (The Dominator), sung with intensity and force, the sound of the brass darkly rising to meet the voices of the choir. Al-Adl (The Just) is announced with categorical force, a vocal punctuation. It is followed by a soft, breathy Al-Latif (The Very Subtle) that stretches until it becomes almost inaudible. The singers proclaim Al-Dhahir (The Manifest). Yet Al-Batin (The Hidden) is concealed in the music, buried among overlapping voices. At times the choir falls into whispered entreaties, faint murmurs of either awe or humility. The Native American pow-wow drum is struck to announce each name.

Listening to The Beautiful Names, I was reminded of the dhikr gatherings held at the dergah of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi order in Istanbul's working class Karagumruk district where the congregation's singing and rhythmic repetition of prayers is at once disciplined, meditative and rapturous. I could hear in the steady, triumphant chanting of "Allah, Allah" by the BBC chorus, the controlled ecstasy of the dervishes as their ritual of divine remembrance reached its crescendo. The Beautiful Names is indeed more prayer than performance.

Tavener's work has precedence in writings of another Englishman, Sir Edwin Arnold, the 19th century editor of The Daily Telegraph who wrote a popular treatise on the life and teachings of Buddha and then followed up with a remarkable volume entitled Pearls of the Faith, a lyrical verse commentary on the "Beautiful Names" of Allah. Having lived in India during the 1857 uprising, Arnold was keenly aware of the dangers of religious conflict; his work no doubt came out of a desire for amity. "For Islam," he wrote presciently, "must be conciliated; it cannot be thrust scornfully aside or rooted out. It shares the task of the education of the world with its sister religions."

The Beautiful Names is a timeless plea for tolerance that is grounded in spiritual reflection and musical imagination. Composers write for posterity. I hope future generations will remember (perhaps stumble upon) this work and see it not just as a piece of music shaped and bounded by the current debates over the presence of Islam and Muslim in Europe, but as a testament to religious devotion that transcends the discrete bounds of any single faith.

*The Islamist* book review

Egypt Today - Cairo, Egypt

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Memoirs of an ex-Jihadi
The Islamist created waves across Britain and North America in the weeks following its release in May, generating reviews and debates in The Times, The Guardian, CNN and MSNBC. The book, lauded by non-Muslims, has come in for vocal criticism from many leading Muslim voices.

Husain has been accused of being a government stooge and of pandering to Islamaphobes. Hizb ut-Tahrir, the group that forms the basis of Husain’s analysis, denies he was ever a member.

Despite receiving a number of death threats, Husain refuses to stay quiet. In June he spoke with Egypt Today via telephone from London.

Ed Husain’s journey begins in East London, in an area where you would be hard pressed to find a white face. As a teenager, he attended a school predominantly made up of male students of Muslim-Bangladeshi origins. It is here where he was first introduced to Islamist organizations.

Husain recalls the options available to a young man looking for acceptance in Tower Hamlets, where he grew up. “I had very little contact with non-Muslims. And even to this day, a young person in Tower Hamlets has just two or three choices: Join a gang, or choose the more glamorous option — join an Islamist organization.”

He speaks of a peculiar void in the lives of Muslim teenagers growing up in mono-cultural ghettoes of Britain, reflecting on his own upbringing as the child of immigrants. “What is it to be British? What unites us? Is it a pint at the local pub? Well, I don’t fit in. Is it dating and the disposing of partners willy-nilly? Well, I still don’t fit in.”

Husain embraced radical Islamism by first joining the Pakistan-based Jamaat-e-Islami, and then finally moving on to the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) during his college years. Indoctrination into these groups included reading books such as Sayed Qutb’s Milestones and believing in the ultimate goal of a “transnational Islamic caliphate,” with a “policy of jihad.”

His fellow group members introduced him to the word kaffir (non-believer). These were the same members who drove around illegally without the compulsory car insurance, simply because it was seen as supporting the “kaffir economy.”

Some of his peers have gone on to become terrorists, including Majid Nawaz, the young Briton arrested in Alexandria in 2002 for attempting to reactivate the HT in Egypt (where the group is currently banned). Husain describes how, within four months of becoming president of the Islamic Society in Tower Hamlets College, he and his compatriots managed to radicalize the entire Muslim population on campus, overtake the student union and create a deeply hostile environment pitting Muslims against non-Muslims.

All this was in stark contrast to the Islam that Husain was raised with by his parents, who leaned toward a softer, Sufi-influenced thinking. Sufficiently forewarned by group members that his parents would attempt to sway him from ‘the right path,’ he resisted all attempts by his family to coax him away from his new lifestyle.

“I remember coming home and seeing my mother constantly praying. I would hear my father crying out for my guidance after his prayers,” he recalls. His father ultimately told him to make a choice: Islamism or the family. Husain, age 16, chose the former: He ran away from home and ended up seeking shelter at the mosque.

Ultimately, he says, it was the persistence of his family (his mother would call the mosque, accusing members of kidnapping her son) and a number of life-changing events that led to his move away from Islamist organizations. In his book, Husain describes the experience as culminating in an event that shook him and his adopted beliefs to the core.

In 1995, during his second year of college, a fellow student — a Christian Nigerian — was murdered on campus, surrounded by a crowd of students, including Husain. “It was inhumane, and it’s as if there was no differentiating between right and wrong,” he remembers.

Husain is certain today that the environment he helped to create in college, where outsiders felt confident coming in and distributing propaganda, led to the death. “Who gave these Muslims this idea of supremacy?” he says. “Who created this environment? Who created these clusters? Who gave them these ideas of jihad? Who said violence was legitimate? We did. HT did.”

One of the main aims Husain had in writing his book was to bring home the impact of ideas. “I saw the impact of ideas on people. That’s why I have a problem with people going around calling for jihad, and calling for the kaffir to be killed, without taking responsibility for the actions that such rhetoric leads to.”

The murder made Husain realize that there was something deeply wrong with the worldview he had so intensely adopted. “Luckily,” he says, he ended up leaving HT just two months before he was to become a “lifelong member. I say luckily because leaving a group like HT isn’t easy,” he explains, adding that the group is run in an almost cult-like manner.

Husain describes the difficulties faced by those who have tried to leave but failed because their lives are so deeply entrenched within the organization. Many marry into the organization, and leaving can mean a forced divorce. Members are expected to give up to 10 percent of their monthly income to the group, meaning that leaving becomes the loss of a major long-term financial investment, among other things.

Even if one were to leave, says Husain, it does not guarantee one’s mind will be “free of the contamination the organization wreaks on it.” Years after he had left HT, Husain recalls asking friends why they were not celebrating September 11th on its anniversary. He believes it took him 6 years to finally leave HT behind truly and spiritually.

In 1997, Husain attended a lecture by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, widely described as one of Western Islam’s most popular scholars. “It took me three years to trust Sheikh Hamza,” he remembers.

Taught not to trust these “scholars for dollars,” he did not accept the sincerity of the sheikh until 2001. He also looked to other traditional scholars such as Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller and Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad, along with Middle Eastern thinkers such as the Habaib of Yemen.

“I started to frequent these circles more and more, while distancing myself from HT ideas.” This ultimately led to the deep passion for traditional Islam he holds now.

“Political Islam is problematic to me on three levels: the rejection of Muslim tradition, the rejection of fellow Muslims and its political confrontation with the West,” says Husain.

“Traditional Islam is the opposite of all of the above, in that it doesn’t set itself up as a political force. It is more about the continuity of a tradition that goes back to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and this can be verified through the isnad system [used to verify the validity of the hadith by documenting all transmission of knowledge in Islamic tradition]. Nothing has been made up as a post-colonial ideology, everything is just the way it has been [for centuries].”

Husain points to Grand Mufti of Egypt Aly Gomaa as an example of someone who, he believes, has “a maqam (good standing) with Allah. He was an activist himself once upon a time. He understands what’s going on.”

Husain is so passionate about the subject that he is currently completing his doctoral dissertation on Sufi orders and politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Sufism itself has had its fair share of criticism and is accused of being unable to offer solutions to contemporary problems, especially political ones. But, as Husain points out, “Sufism is not detached from this world. It actually engages in a constructive way, whereas Islamism is destructive. [Islamism is about] ‘We will overthrow and start from year zero.’ Traditional Islam is about building on what we have from the past, not destroying the past. It is about continuity.”

He lists numerous examples of Sufism engaging with politics in the Muslim world, including “Sheikh Hasan Al-Senussi who was the king of Libya, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah who was the vice-president of Mauritania and even the Sudanese political party set up based on Sufi orders predominant in the 1920s.”

Husain believes that if not for his parents, he would not have “returned to this side. The reason I came back, the reason I lost faith in extremism or Islamism, is that I had parents who raised me in an alternative Muslim tradition. Many of the people I was mixing with didn’t have that background. For them, being an Islamist was equivalent to being Muslim, full stop. For those of us who have had an alternative background, we know that there are 101 ways of being Muslim.”

The Arab World without distortions

[From the Italian language press]:

Salento Negroamaro, rassegna delle culture migranti della Provincia di Lecce, prosegue il suo viaggio alla scoperta della civiltà arabo-islamica.

Mercoledì 4 luglio nel Fossato del Castello di Otranto con il concerto del cantautore algerino Idir ha preso il via la sezione dedicata alla musica, diretta da Nabil Ben Salameh e Michele Lobaccaro (Radiodervish), che ha l’intento di proporre al pubblico una prospettiva sul mondo arabo scevra da pregiudizi e distorsioni di immagine.

Lecce Prima - Lecce, Puglia, Italy - martedì 3 luglio 2007

Salento Negroamaro, review of the migratory cultures of the province of Lecce, continues its travel to the discovery of the Muslim-Arabic civilization.

Wednesdays July 4th in the Moat of the Castle of Otranto with the concert of the Algerian singer-songwrite Idir set off the section dedicated to music, directed from Nabil Ben Salameh and Michele Lobaccaro (Radiodervish), that has the attempt to propose to the public a perspective on the Arabic world free from prejudices and distortions of image.

The artistic directors mean to propose, through music, a look on the contemporary Arabic world, a travel between the sufi spiritual tradition and the 20th century Arabic cultural heritage, guided by Jallaludin Rumi (1207-1273) the mystical poet and philosopher, and Oum Khaltoum (1904-1975), the great -perhaps the greatest- Arab singer.

The program continues through Saturday July 21st with Orchestra di Nazareth a group which comprises musicians from the three Abrahamic faiths; Sunday July 22nd with Mercan Dede and Luigi Einaudi together on stage; and many more concerts until the last on Tuesday, September 18th: "Oriental suite" with Radiodervish in "Il verbo degli uccelli" (The verb/word of the birds) from the persian mystic Farid al-Din 'Attar.

[picture: Otranto's Castle, Otranto, Italy]

A teacher of morality and mysticism

RM/MA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Rumi’s 22nd niece, Esin Celebi believes that it is easy to observe the influence of Molana on modern literature and that one characteristic which can be detected is the global nature of his thoughts.

Turkish people are very interested in reading books about Rumi and the number of such books is increasing every year, she told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

“Rumi’s ideas are liked in all the fields of his literature and moral writings. An important aspect of Rumi’s ideology is the improvement of intellect. He maintains that if a person’s knowledge does not improve his intellect he is like a donkey that carries books. This idea is of great importance today and is being retold in various modern stories,” she stated.

She proposed that all those who would like Rumi’s thoughts to be promoted and who want to make his spirit happy, should try to put his ideas into practice.

She continued that the language of Rumi’s poetry is the language of the heart, and his poetry has influenced many Turkish and non-Turkish poets and writers in the world.

“Some critics believe that Rumi has influenced many of today’s world writers. For example, stories from the “Masnavi” are observable in modern novels,” she underlined.

Esin Celebi also mentioned that world attention to Rumi and UNESCO’s celebration of his 800th birth anniversary (1207-1273) proves that his work and personality are of high significance, adding, “Rumi must not be restricted to only literature. He is fundamentally a teacher of morality and mysticism. He has encouraged friendship and sympathy amongst the people of the world.”

“If I was asked to express the ideology of Rumi in one sentence, I would say -- ‘Everybody must work towards world peace’ ” she concluded.

Celebi participated in the seminar in honor of the Turkish scholar Abdulbaki Golpinarli (1900-1982), which was held at the Tehran University’s Allameh Amini Hall on June 25 and 26by the Miras-e Maktub Research Center.

Abdulbaki Golpinarli, famous for his knowledge of the Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, has translated the complete works of Rumi into Turkish.

The topics of the seminar were “Golpinarli and the Study of Rumi”, “Golpinarli and Sufi Literature”, and “Golpinarli and the Study of Religion”.

Several Turkish scholars including the Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Husun Gurcan Turkoglu attended the seminar. Turkoglu described Golpinarli as an exceptional symbol of cultural ties between Turkey and Iran.

“The dynamism and the depth of these ties have not been crystallized by chance, but it has required heroes like Golpinarli, who have made much effort in this respect,” he added.

“It is appropriate to say that Golpinarli is this century’s hero of cultural ties between the two nations,” Turkoglu noted.

The library of the cultural section of the Turkish Embassy in Tehran was named after Abdulbaki Golpinarli during a ceremony on Tuesday, June 26.

The colloquium was part of Iran’s program for celebration of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi (1207-1273) in 2007.

[picture: Rumi’s 22nd niece, Esin Celebi, gives a lecture during the seminar.

Photo Mehr/Mohsen Sajjadi

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=508451]

Sufi renderings

The Tribune - Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Srinagar: For the second consecutive day yesterday [Tuesday July 3rd], artistes from India and Pakistan, as part of a cultural exchange, entertained the audience at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre here.

[picture: Pakistani Sufi singer Adil Barki performs at the SKICC in Srinagar on Tuesday. — PTI photo]

"Mystical Manoeuvre"

New Straits Times - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

An exhibition of contemporary Islamic art is being held in memory of the late Mohammad Din Mohammad as a tribute by his family.

The exhibition is being held at the Main Lobby, Balai Berita, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.

The "Mystical Manoeuvre" exhibition, which is on until July 27, displays some of Mohammad’s best acrylic paintings and assemblage sculptures. They were inspired by his passion for Sufism (Islamic mysticism).

A graduate of Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the late artist has had 20 solo exhibitions and more than 100 group exhibitions around the world.

The Malacca-born artist-cum-traditional-healer, who died last May at the age of 52, is survived by his 47-year-old wife and six children.

His wife, Hamidah Jalil, said the collections displayed were from his art gallery, which housed over thousands of artworks and antiques, including Islamic manuscripts, kris and gemstones.

"I’ll continue his legacy," she said.

Daily, from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free.
For further details, contact Sherifah Din Mohammad at 012-3120109.

[picture: The Bull, a sculpture by the late Mohammad Din Mohammad, is one of many artworks on display at the exhibition at Balai Berita.]

"We were talking about poetry"

By Betsy Pisik - World Peace Herald - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Iranian ambassador leaves NY after 5 years
Javad Zarif is leaving this month after five years as Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and nearly two decades in his country's New York mission. He expects to return to Tehran and teach.

The ambassador is the kind of effortlessly smooth diplomat who can banter with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (a protocol no-no, as the countries have officially severed diplomatic relations) and then dismiss the implications with a wave of his hand.

"We were talking about poetry, not politics," he said, starting a brief discussion about the Persian poet Rumi.

Mr. Zarif, 48, was educated in the United States, where he has lived for nearly 30 years. Nonetheless, as an Iranian official, he does not shake hands with female ambassadors and rarely eats meat prepared by other missions because it may not be sufficiently halal, or kosher.

He is tireless in explaining — and defending — Iran's positions to confused or alarmed foreign governments. Tehran's denial of the Holocaust? No, it was more of a defense of the Palestinian lands. Nuclear weapons? Not at all, he says, simply an enthusiasm for civilian nuclear power. The fact that the Group of 77 developing nations support Tehran against the Security Council and many openly urge Iran to go for the nukes, he says, is merely a reflection of frustration with Israel.

He will be replaced by Deputy Economic Minister Mohammad Khazai, who is well-known in international finance circles.

Success is due to wholehearted support

GK News Network - Greater Kashmir - Srinagar, India

17 Jamadi-us-Sani 1428 AH /Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Governor, Lt. Gen (Retd) S. K. Sinha on Monday exuded confidence that the message of peace, love and tranquility embedded in the unique concept of “Kashmiriyat” will bring about harmony in the world in general and Indo-Pak sub-continent in particular.

The Governor was speaking at the inaugural function of 3-day Music Festival held at jam-packed SKICC auditorium here this evening.

The festival is consequently being held for the third time on the commencement of annual Amarnth yatra. The Governor, who is also the Chairman of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board referred to the great pluralistic ethos of Kashmir and said that the concept of “Kashmiriyat” has withstood the test of times.

General Sinha said that SASB has been organizing the Sufi Music Festival for the past three years to highlight the essence of glorious and rich heritage of Sufism.

“It fits well with the commencement of the annual Amarnath Yatra, which is a shining symbol of Kashmir’s glorious ethos as the shrine has been rediscovered by a Muslim, Buta Malick.” He added that this yatra is incomplete without the active participation of the majority community whose hospitality and warmth has endeared thousands of devotees who have been thronging from various parts of the country every year.

He attributed success of the yatra to the wholehearted support of various agencies of the Government and people of Kashmir.

Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad was the chief guest while Dr Karan Singh, President Indian Council for Cultural Relations presided over the inaugural function. The festival has been organized by the Amarnath Board in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages and Jammu and Kashmir State Tourism Department.

The highlight of the inaugural programme was scintillating presentation of Sufi Kalam by Begum Farida Khanum from Pakistan and Tannoura Sufi (Darwish, a folk and dance performance by a group from Egypt).

The festival took off with Sufi Kalam by famous Kashmiri artist, Abdul Rashid Hafiz.

The Chief Minister and Dr. Karan Singh also spoke on the occasion, while Secretary Cultural Academy delivered the welcome address and Director General, ICCR, Pawan K. Verma presented vote of thanks.

The Governor, the Chief Minister and the President ICCR honoured the artists by Kashmiri shawls.

[picture: Amarnath Ice-lingam http://jammukashmir.nic.in/tourism/kashmir/welcome.html]

Tijaniys to open to the World

[From the French language press]:

Après avoir accompli la veille, vendredi [29 juin], dans l’après-midi, un pèlerinage qui a drainé des foules monstre à la Grande Zawiya de Fès où repose Cheikh Sidi Ahmed Tijani pour y faire la prière de ‘takusaan’ suivie du ‘khadaratou jouma’, puis de déclamations de poèmes à la gloire du prophète Mohamed (Psl) et du fondateur de la confrérie, le Forum des adeptes de la Tijania s'est achevé samedi [30 juin], dans l’ancienne capitale impériale du Royaume du Maroc.

Walf Fadjiri - Dakar, Sénégal - lundi 2 juillet 2007 - par Abdourahmane Camara

After having achieved the day before, Friday [June 29], in the afternoon, a pilgrimage which drained a huge crowd to the Great Zawiya of Fez where where rests Shaykh Sidi Ahmed Tijani to make the prayer of `takusaan' followed by the `khadaratou jouma', then by declamations of poems in praise of the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh) and in praise of the founder of the Brotherhood, the Forum of the followers of Tijaniya came to an end on Saturday [June 30], in the old imperial capital of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Recommendation of the Tijianiya: The `mouqadam' (scholars) of Shaykh Ahmed al-Tijani are called to open themselves to the world.

The organization of an international Forum every two years in Morocco to discuss the state of the Tariqa and its contribution to the expansion of Sufism: this is one of the sixteen recommendations made by the Delegates of the Forum.

The intention was set to promote the knowledge of Shaykh Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani through the diffusion of the books on his life and work. The participants also recommended to use all the media tools, in particular the creation of a web site and the launching of radios and a numerical television, to spread the lesson of the Tariqa and to perfect the training of the followers.

Before the end of the proceedings, the Forum addressed two motions of thanks to H.M. the King of Morocco: one motion of thanks from the grandsons of Shaykh Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani and the other from the Delegates of the meeting.

Giving a Whirl to Dervishes

By Meher Fatma - Delhi Newsline - Delhi, India

Saturday, June 30, 2007

If you thought dervishes were mendicants who pirouetted on the plains of Turkey, their alabaster-white skirts in a whirl, then the spectacularly attired tannoura dancers from Cairo would have been a surprise.

On Friday evening, 15 Egyptian dervishes gave a colourful, folk lilt to the traditional dance form, as they spun feverishly to the rising beat of the doumbek (a goblet-shaped drum), the mizmar (shehnai-like wind instrument) and tambourines, their spectacular costumes switching shades and turning them into a human kaleidoscope.

If the many-tiered skirts were multihued, then the music was more folkloric than sombre. “The dervish dance form strictly follows a religious philosophy with its whirling movement, but as tannoura dancers we have adapted the dance and given it a more colourful look,” said Mohammady Fatihe, director of the Al-Beheira Folk Troupe that was in the Capital as part of the ICCR’s festival, Traditions of Sufism.

The troupe, founded over 40 years ago in Cairo, has over 60 dancers who specialise in the revival of arts and culture. “We have performed in Spain, Italy, China and Korea, but this is our first time in India,” said Fatihe, who will take his troupe to Srinagar before heading home.

[picture: Egyptian Doumbek with ceramic inlay http://tinyurl.com/3a7bpz ]

Four-day conference in Haifa

The Jerusalem Post - Israel

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Haifa: A four-day conference on Islamic Fundamentalism and Sufism - their continuities and confrontations through modernity and globalization, will be held in the Aviva and Sammy Ofer Observation Gallery of the University of Haifa beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday July 1st.

Speakers will include several Muslim academics.

[picture: Haifa, Shrine of the Bab
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/haifa-bahai-shrine-and-gardens.htm]

Three-day 'Sufi festival' begins in Kashmir

The Hindu -Srinagar, India
Sunday, July 1, 2007

Srinagar: Buoyed by the success of the first-ever film festival in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages is organising a three-day 'Sufi festival' here from tomorrow [Monday, July 2nd].

Internationally acclaimed Sufi singers Begum Farida Khanum, Chand Afzal Qawwal, Adil Barki (Pakistan), light classical vocalist Rita Ganguli, Kathak singer Prema Shirmali, Kashmiri Sufi singer Abdul Rashid Hafiz and folk and dance performers from Egypt are expected to participate in the festival, a spokesman of the academy said here.

He said the academy, in collaboration with Shree Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is organising the festival in connection with commencement of the Amarnathji yatra*.

Governor and chairman of SASB Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha will inaugurate the festival while the President of ICCR Dr Karan Singh will preside over the inaugural function.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad would be the chief guest.

*[Hindu pilgrimage to be done in the month of Shravan (July - August) to Amarnathji.
The holy site stands at 3,888 m/12,755 feet and 141 km/88 statute miles from Srinagar ].

We should all recognize our essential interdependence

RM/MA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, June 30, 2007

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that by understanding and putting into practice the teachings of the poet Molana Rumi the work of the United Nations alliance of civilizations will ultimately be successful.

Following is the text of remarks by the UN secretary-general delivered at the commemoration ceremony of the Persian philosopher and poet Molana Rumi in New York on June 26:

“I am delighted to join all of you today for this very special commemoration. Let me welcome the distinguished scholars and artists who have traveled long distances for this event. Let me also thank their Excellencies, the Permanent Representatives of Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey for hosting this gathering at the United Nations.

“I must admit that I have been a bit unsure of where to begin. Many of you are dedicated disciples of Molana Rumi. Others have just participated in a panel discussion on the significance of his poetry led by leading academics. For such scholars to be followed by a mere student of Rumi is a tall task, even for a Secretary-General!

“Of course, just by looking around this hall, I can claim confidently that, eight centuries after his birth, Molana Rumi lives on. This event is a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our devotion to his humanist philosophy and to highlight the principles of tolerance, understanding and compassion, which suffuse his compositions.”

He continued, “As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I hope to carry out my duties cheerfully and with humility, just as our moderator suggested. I know this is a big task, but I would like to accomplish it with the same tolerance, understanding and compassion that Rumi teaches.

“Rumi’s poetry is timeless. But its celebration at the United Nations is extremely timely. Events of recent years have created a growing gulf between communities and nations. They have led to a worrying rise in intolerance and cross-cultural tensions. Reversing these trends has become vital to long-term peace and stability in our world.”

Ban Ki-moon added, “These goals demand that every one of us look beyond our narrow short-term self-interests. As Rumi teaches, we must be mindful of the people around us, and love them as human beings and God’s creatures. In doing so, we should all recognize our essential interdependence and place the well-being of our communities and of all humanity on par with our own interests.

“This commemoration draws attention to this urgent need in a most engaging fashion. Indeed, by bringing together people of diverse backgrounds to celebrate Rumi’s universal philosophy, today’s gathering contributes to the UN’s own efforts to promote a culture of peace through the Alliance of Civilizations. The successor to our earlier Dialogue among Civilizations process, this initiative responds to the clear need for action by the international community to bridge divides and promotes understanding. The Alliance has identified several priority areas for action and is developing a strategy to promote better understanding between the world of politics and religion. Commemorations like this one can help inspire and motivate its important work and ensure the project’s ultimate success,” he concluded.

Later, Professor James Morris, Prof. Mahmut Erol Kilinc from Turkey, the first Culture Minister of Turkey Professor Talat Sait Hamlan, Chairman of George Washington University’s Islamic Institute Professor Hossein Nasr and Professor Waliahmedi from the University of California participated in the panel discussion.

Prof. Hossein Nasr made a speech and referred to the fact that Rumi was born in Iran.

He explained the reasons for the present popularity of Rumi’s works, which were written 800 years ago, and introduced and reviewed various dimensions of his philosophy.

Prof. Nasr referred to the theory of inner attachment of Rumi to the world, and called him the exponent of humanistic thoughts.

In the section arranged by Iran’s Permanent Representative Office at the UN, a poem by Rumi was read in Persian and afterwards in English.

Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the UN noted that he was pleased that his country had been able to collaborate with Iran and Turkey on arranging the event. He added that Rumi’s philosophy is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The part of the program arranged by Turkey included a performance of a sama by whirling dervishes.

“The lamps are different, but the light is the same”

By Lea Terhune - USINFO - U.S.A.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Organization of the Islamic Conference will gain U.S. Envoy

Friendship, respect reaffirmed by Bush at mosque anniversary

Washington – American appreciation for Islam was the theme of President Bush’s speech at the Islamic Center of Washington on the mosque’s 50th anniversary June 27.

The president also announced he will appoint a U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to “listen and learn” and share U.S. views with delegates from Muslim nations.

The appointment is intended “to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship,” he said. It will be the first time an American president has appointed an envoy to the OIC.

Bush reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the Middle East peace process. “We will work toward a day when a democratic Palestine lives side by side with Israel in peace,” he said.

Calling the mosque’s anniversary a “celebration of America’s diversity of faith and our unity as free people,” Bush quoted the poet Rumi: “The lamps are different, but the light is the same.”

He said the location of the Islamic center, on the same street as Christian churches, a Jewish synagogue and a Buddhist temple, is evidence of a society where “people can live and worship as they choose without intimidation.”

The long-time imam of the Islamic Center, Abdullah M. Khouj, introduced the president, remarking on the tolerance and freedom of religion in the United States and recalling the speech of another U.S. president.

When the Islamic center was dedicated in 1957, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower called it one of “the most beautiful buildings in Washington,” and said “America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience.” Fifty years later, Bush echoed his sentiments.

“The freedom to worship is so central to America’s character that we tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others,” he said.

Adding that “the greatest challenge” is to “help the forces of moderation win the great struggle against extremism,” Bush condemned extremists and the way they misrepresent Islam and the American perspective. “This enemy falsely claims that America is at war with Muslims and the Muslim faith, when in fact it is these radicals who are Islam’s true enemy,” he said.

Bush paid a visit to the Islamic center days after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when he also spoke of the importance of the Muslim community in America.

The generous outpouring of assistance to Muslim countries in times of disaster is a sign of American friendship toward Muslims, he said, citing relief sent after earthquakes in Iran and Pakistan, and the tsunami in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“Our country defended Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Today we’re rallying the world to confront genocide in Sudan,” he said.

Bush reiterated U.S. commitment to young democracies in the Muslim world, saying, “A democratic future is not a plan imposed by Western nations; it is a future that the people of the region will seize for themselves.”

“America offers its hand in friendship,” Bush concluded.

Tracing a colourful culture and rich heritage

By Latheef Farook - The Sunday Times - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Sarandib – An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka by Asiff Hussein

This is a book worth reading by both Muslims and non-Muslims, academics as well as general readers who would like to know all about the country’s Muslims.

What is particularly noteworthy about this work is that the author has not only dealt with the ethnicity and culture of the country’s major Muslim group, the Moors, but has also given due attention to the other Muslim groups such as the Malays, Memons and other groups of Indian origin such as the Sammankarar, Faqirs and Osta.

As renowned scholar Dr. M.A.M. Shukri observes in the foreword to the work: “It is by far the most comprehensive multi-disciplinary study of the country’s Muslim community undertaken to date, encompassing physical anthropology, linguistics, social organization, cultural traditions and religious and folk beliefs”.

In the first part of this work which is devoted to the Moor community, the author traces in great detail the origins of the Moors, contending that the nucleus of the community has its origins in the early Arab settlers and traders who chose to settle in the country, espousing local Sinhalese and Tamil women. To this end, he has drawn upon anthropological, textual and epigraphic evidence.

He has also sought to show that the Moors, descended as they were from Arabs hailing from Iraq, Yemen and other parts of the Arab world were originally an Arabic-speaking people and that it was only after the 13th century with the fall of the Abbasid caliphate to the Mongols that they came to speak Tamil as their home language, largely facilitated by increasing dependence on their Tamil-speaking co-religionists from peninsular India with whom they had established strong commercial links.

Hussein has also dealt with the peculiar dialect spoken by the Moors in the South and Western parts of the country known as Sona Tamil as well as with their now largely forgotten literary heritage based on Arabu-Tamil, Tamil written in Arabic script. He then goes on to deal with the settlements of the Moors, showing how such settlements would have originated and the factors that would have influenced settlement patterns.

Hussein also deals at length with the social customs of the community including birth and childhood, marriage and funerary rites as they prevail in different areas, showing how some have a religious basis while others have been influenced by external factors. He also deals with dress and ornamentation and culinary habits as it prevails in the community at present and as it prevailed in the past, drawing upon oral traditions and literary sources to reveal some rare insights into these aspects of life. He has shown how diversely the Moors have been influenced in their attire and ornament and food habits which betray not only Arabian, but also a strong Hindustani and Dravidian influence.The medical remedies of the community have also been covered and includes details of Unani prescriptions as well as handy medicines known as kai-marundu.

The chapter on occupations is also very illuminating and shows how the Moors of old made their living not only as traders and gem merchants, but also as seafarers engaged in maritime commerce, hunters, farmers, fishers, masons, carpenters and medical men.

The author also delves on the religious beliefs of the community, dealing not only with the basic tenets of the faith, but also with religious currents such as Sufism and Salafi revivalism and with beliefs pertaining to the jinn, evil eye, Adam’s Peak and that mysterious personage known as Khidr or ‘The Green One’.

The second part deals with the Malays and shows how the community has its origins from the nobles and soldiers brought here by the Dutch from Indonesia, though some had their origins from the Malayan Peninsula as well. Their distinct speech, social customs, attire and culinary fare have also been dealt with in great detail. The third part of the work deals with the little known Memon community which has its origins in the Kathiawad Peninsula of Gujarat. The speech of the community as well as their distinct social and cultural practices as well as their commercial life have been recorded in detail.

Finally the author deals with other groups of Indian origin including the Sammankarar or Coast Moors who hailed from various parts of the South Indian coast, the Faqirs who originally hailed from peninsular India with later accretions from other local Muslim communities and the Osta who have traditionally performed such duties as ritual tonsure and circumcision and who constitute a sort of caste group, intermarrying among themselves.

Hussein must be commended for having undertaken the extremely valuable and time consuming task of gathering rare information from diverse sources which involved a number of field visits and interviews, particularly with elderly folk who still preserve memories of their former lifestyle and traditions, some of which no longer exist. He has also undertaken an extensive survey of old records such as the Dutch tombos preserved at the National Archives and other institutions which relate to the social and economic life of local Muslims centuries ago. Thanks to his efforts, much valuable information about the past social, economic, cultural and traditional life of the country's Muslims which would have otherwise disappeared unrecorded have been saved for posterity. Thus Hussein's study should help preserve the colourful cultural life and rich heritage of the island's Muslims, particularly in the context of a fast changing social life as a result of the rat race for survival under the current globalised open economic set-up.

The work is illustrated with 32 colour plates including some rare photographs such as old photos of the different Muslim groups, Arabic inscriptions found in graveyards, an old Arabu-Tamil newspaper titled kashfur raan an qalbil jaan, a surattu toppi formerly worn by Moor gentlemen, antique jewellery including a rare savadi necklace and even some kris knives used by the Malays of old.

The book is available at Vijitha Yapa, Lake House Bookshop, Sarasavi Bookshop, Makeen Bookshop, Islamic Book House, CIS and Carnival Ice Cream.

Indonesia's Guitar Warrior

By Jason Tedjasukmana - Time - U.S.A.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Rabbis are an uncommon sight in Indonesia, much less at a performance by the country's top rock star.

Yet there they were, tapping along as Ahmad Dhani (also known as Dhani Dewa) sang his Warriors of Love at a recent conference in Bali on religious tolerance.

Afterward, the rabbis—along with Islamic, Hindu and Catholic clerics—jostled for photos with the rock star.

The 35-year-old Muslim may have a way to go before reaching the musician-statesman stature of Bono, but he is talking the talk. "Warriors of Love is a song about love and tolerance for people of different faiths," he explains. "We reject the teachings of hate and the extremists who preach it."

Some of his backers hope to widen the song's appeal by assembling a multilingual Muslim star cast to render it as a kind of We Are the World anthem of global Islamic moderation.

While international music fans have yet to take notice, the U.S. security establishment already has. Last October, Dhani spoke at a Defense Department-sponsored conference at NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] in Colorado Springs, explaining to military and government officials why he rejected the path of his father, a former member of the hard-line body Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia, as well as that of his grandfather, a member of the outlawed Darul Islam, which once fought for an Islamic state in the archipelago.

In so doing, the rock star "has chosen to help us annihilate the crisis of misunderstanding of the Muslim world," says C. Holland Taylor, an American who founded the LibForAll Foundation to promote moderate Islam, and who accompanied Dhani to NORAD. (It is Taylor's foundation that plans to gather other Muslim pop stars for the multilingual version of Warriors of Love.)

(...)

Then there is Dhani's self-professed interest in Sufism. The Sufis make up a mystical branch of Islam that conservative Muslims dismiss as unconventional at best, and deviant at worst. "The fact that he is a Sufi is already going to be controversial with most Indonesian Muslims," says Hamid Basyaib, director of the Liberal Islam Network, a Jakarta-based organization promoting a moderate version of Islam.

So will Dhani's admission that he does not pray five times a day—one of the religion's cardinal commands. Says Shofwan Chairul of the University of Indonesia's Islamic Students Association: "People respect him for his music, not his religious views."

Critics say Dhani's newfound spiritual interest masks the falling sales of Dewa 19's albums (the latest shifted 400,000 copies, in contrast to the two previous ones, which sold over a million each). But residual love for his music remains sky high.

"Most Indonesians have had a Dewa 19 moment," says Rian Pelor, a music writer for Trax magazine.

Certainly, there is no musician like Dhani in the country—he is Indonesia's Cobain or Lennon. And while his new musical tack has been greeted with suspicion in some quarters, what if it does articulate a concern of Indonesia's silent majority?

Channeling their feelings is something that Dhani has never failed to do in the past. "Music can reach the masses in a way that Muslim teachers cannot," he declares. "We hope to touch the kids in a way that will make them think about their faith."

For now though, whether or not Warriors of Love can drown out the warriors of militant Islam is anyone's guess.

[Ahmad Dhani Dewa - Dewa 19 official website
http://www.dewa19.com/]

[About NORAD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Aerospace_Defense_Command]